Today, on a seemingly normal Monday, as the world spun around me as normal, as people walked to work, and as cars honked their horns, God blessed me. I feel like I am a cup that is overflowing with sweet Dominican fruit juice... God really really blessed me today.
After waking an hour past my alarm went off I finally went up to the second floor to catch a breeze and read my Bible. I went through the same routine that I do every morning here: I feel like I really don't want to be stretched again and pulled out of my comfort zone but I prayerfully place my body and will into God's hands (*cough* hesitantly). As I left the house I shared with Rosy, the pastor's daughter, that I wanted to do something different today.. "Today while we are in the guagua (bus) we are going to pray without stopping until we arrive." So during the 40 minute ride we prayed silently over the things that God placed on our heart. At different points in the ride I couldn't even hear the prayers in my own head because the sound of traffic was so loud!
We arrived in La Joya, a part of the city known for selling cheap drugs and women. I catch myself gripping my purse a bit tighter while walking through the dirty streets with men who whistle and promiscuous women sitting in the sidewalk. Omar's door to his house is open so Rosy and I peak in to see who is home. Omar, an 18 year old who was baptized last summer, has no example in his home or support to follow through with his faith in God. We quickly found him inside and began a silly conversation that slowly become serious. I felt God keep saying "go deeper, tell Him more about what I want for Him." God told me to share a verse with Omar and with faith I opened my Bible and on the page in front of me God gave me the verse that Omar needed to hear (Phil 2:13 in case you are wondering). We asked Omar if we could pray with him and he looked me in the eyes and told me yes. He was very receptive and as I saw a tear fall from His eye I knew that God had blessed us both.
We left Omar's house with lots of hugs and smiles. Later that day after recovering our energy with a mountain of rice, we gathered a few teens that we know to go and pray for some of the elderly women in the church who are very sick. Rosy, Nicole (one of the teens) and I entered the house of Doña Elena, which is hot and lacks windows to allow a breeze in. She was lying in a bed and in a lot of pain, and we quickly realized that this sweet soul is dying. Before my eyes, Rosy and Nicole began to soothe Doña Elena and speak kindly with her. I watched them as they placed hands on her, prayed for her with big faith, and read the Bible with her. Doña Elena, though bedridden and in pain, kept her hands raised to Heaven receiving the outpouring of love that these 13-year-old girls lavished onto her freely.
I could continue. I have more stories. But I want to close with this.. God is close and intimate and real. You can see Him I promise you. He doesn't stand off and watch the world self-run itself or self-destruct itself. When invited, he comes close and gets all up in your business and performs miracles and changes everything. Some might look at La Joya and look down on this place or even be afraid to enter, but when I look at La Joya through God's eyes I see jewels and I see Heaven touching earth. God wants to come near.. may you experience the blessings of his closeness this week and begin to notice the jewels around you.
Xoxo,
Emily
