Photo by Red Charlie
Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
-- Hosea 10:12
You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it.
-- Isaiah 45:8
Hello All,
Twelve years ago, during my second short-term trip to Honduras, I was asked to share for about five to ten minutes at Alvin's church along with my fellow short-term team members. As I was praying about what to share, at 17, I was in a season of listening to the song "The Rain Song," by Day of Fire. As I closed my eyes and adjusted my headphones connected to my CD Walkman (Ya, I'm old), I knew that this song was for Honduras. If you want to give it a listen, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4gZrAfWVe0
The lyrics go like this:
Bring rivers in this wasteland
Clouds into this sky
Bring springs of life into the wells
That have been run dry
Rise up in this city
Gather in this light
Fall down on your people
Your glory and your life
Rain
Lord, we thirst for water
Rain
We are desert land
Rain
On your sons and daughters
Rain
Bring your rain again
Speak dreams into this water
And vision to this land
Let oceans be divided
And bring forth life again
Rise up in this city
Gather in this light
Fall down on your people
Your glory and your life
Let the tide roll in
Washing over our lives
Let your water fall again
Bring rivers in this wasteland
Clouds into the sky
Bring your rain again
Let your water fall down
Bring your rain again now
I shared the song with the congregation. I don't really know that I expected anything else from there, and honestly, I hadn't thought much about it since then--until Wednesday night of this week when God reminded me, and how timely.
Honduras, especially Tegucigalpa, currently is experiencing a serious drought. The government has started rationing water for those who have public water, and for those, like us, who have to buy our water from tanker trucks in order to fill our tanks and cisterns, there is no option at this point in time because the government has stopped selling from their reserves. I have seen reports that we're a mere few weeks away from no water. All of this is happening in what normally is the height of our rainy season. Generally, from the end of May until the beginning of November, we never have to buy water to fill our cistern because it always fills to overflowing with more than enough rain water. Each week, I've kept an eye on the forecast, and it has seemed over and over that there is rain on the horizon except that very little to none ever falls. As of right now, Raúl and I have an empty pila (cistern) which is normally the water we use for washing dishes, bathing, and washing clothes. All we have are our tanks of water (that are dirtied with algae because they are wildly difficult to clean because it involves disconnecting plumbing) that feed our bathroom sink and toilet, and a little more than half a barrel. We have been conserving as much as possible, and I'll confess that I've had the conversation with God of, "God, I know that I'm always allowed to ask, and you can do all things that are seemingly impossible. Please send rain for the benefit of all in need. But also, do you think you can keep that barrel from miraculously not running out until our pila is full?" He can do it, and I am open to all of His creativity in providing for us. As it stands, Raúl and I have been blessed to see or hear of people in the community helping one another in this time of need. It's a unique and oddly beautiful position to be in to feel so pressingly our dependence on God in this way. Water is so often something that people take for granted.
Since my last update, Raúl and I started a worship night in our house on Monday nights for a small group of people who we know want to seek God's face. We have honestly been astounded by the ways that God has visited us in this time and space. We don't give a lesson or have a program. But, each week, I ask God what it is that He would like to do and what songs coincide with His heart for that day and the group of people who will show up. Each week, I have felt His presence in ways that I haven't for a very long time. It feels like He is stirring the heavenlies and like we are standing on holy ground. And, as we take the time to minister to His heart first, He begins to tell us the things that we should pray--over one another and also over Honduras. I would be lying if I said that I know what He is doing, but it feels special to put our ear to His heart and begin to speak life to the driest and darkest of places as He leads.
Our very first worship night, I felt the strong need to pray for the finances of those who were present, including our own. We repented of the ways that we have tried to depend on our own strength to provide or our own administration to keep us afloat. We confessed our need for God's divine provision. And we invited God to teach us how to be both good stewards and also children who can rest that they have a good Father who delights in giving His children good things. Starting the very next day, it seemed like so many things that could financially go wrong, did. It's been a month in which Raúl's business has seen a dip in revenue, and my finances have been tight. I got into a fender bender and had to pay the damages. And, while they were checking for damage to our car, they found several things that needed to be fixed that had nothing to do with the accident. Overall, it's just been a month of stretching our faith. But, because God started the month with asking me to depend on Him for finances and to be more proactive in praying over them, I have known in the midst of it all that He is at work.
Even as I have felt the uncertainty of a lack of water and of the dance of trying to make every dollar stretch as far as it can, I have felt my soul continuously replenished. I have seen the ways that God is connecting people in vision and ministry, how He is slowly putting the puzzle pieces together and showing us His secrets. I am excited and feel the anticipation of all that He is stirring over Honduras. Thus, as I have prayed for this coming Monday's worship night, I have felt strongly that like Jacob wrestling the celestial man--whether God or angel--that there are promises that we are called to contend for. There is something in the heavenlies that we need to call forth, and something to be birthed. We are called to proclaim our dependency on Him for physical rain. But we are also compelled to proclaim our desperate need for His presence to bring the hunger for salvation and healing to Honduras that we as ministers and missionaries absolutely cannot stir up ourselves. And this is why "The Rain Song" is relevant. Twelve years ago, before I moved here, before I knew the depths of the culture, God gave me a key, a borrowed prayer to prophesy over Honduras. And, if He is bringing that song to mind, it's because something is coming full circle. And, when you're going through a season of drought whether literally or in finances or health or relationships or whatever other area, there is no better catalyst for prevailing with fervor than feeling the pressure of your own helplessness and need.
In the midst of political turmoil and questions, ongoing protests, broken families, ongoing poverty, a literal thirst for water, and souls internally crying out to be loved by a Savior, there is no plan B for Honduras. We need Jesus so desperately. While we are willing, our strategies in ministry have reached the end of themselves. He is the plan, and we hold this promise as true and worth contending for:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. -- 2 Chronicles 7:14
Sometimes, I think we try to convince ourselves that for a people or a place to change that they have to decide to leave evil behind or that they have to get clean and and abandon their selfish tendencies. But, the mandate here is clear--He is calling for His people who are called by His name to repent. Maybe that repentance is on behalf of the ones in our sphere of influence, and we do stand in the gap to plead for forgiveness for the blood that was shed in homicides and violence. We do plead the blood of Jesus to make Honduras innocent once again. But, part of that repentance is also about admitting that we have tried to do things in our own strength, that we have lost our way in building our own kingdoms, and that we have let ministry sometimes be driven by our insecurities and egos rather than by His love. It's about asking God to forgive us for the ways that we've failed to demonstrate the person of Jesus in our attitudes and actions. It's confessing that He can do more with five minutes of His presence than we could do in five years...and asking Him to do it. It's not about being lazy. We are still called to be people who actively move to reach others and love others in tangible ways well. We are still called to provide solutions and hope. But, we should do so with hearts set humbly on His greatness above our own.
As we continue to pray, here are a few things that you can also be praying with us:
1) For Honduras -- that God would begin to move in miraculous ways to minister His love to the people here that we know He loves so dearly.
2) For rain -- We are a dry and thirsty land here in every sense of the word.
3) For provision for Raúl's US citizenship. -- It's our desire for Raúl to have US citizenship mainly just because it's the most permanent solution in the midst of a tumultuous time for immigration. When we have children, we want Raúl to seamlessly be able to travel back and forth as a whole family. Raúl paid for the entirety of his US residency from his own savings. And, he is currently eligible for applying for US citizenship. But we can't move forward until we have saved up the $2,500 needed. Given our current financial challenges, we are throwing wide the doors and inviting God to surprise us with His creativity in providing for this need.
4) For God's continued movement in showing us how to move forward in ministry, who we're supposed to be connected with, and how to be faithful in all we are stewarding.
All of my love,
Sarah
--Jeremiah 14:22
