Worship

This is a topic that has been on my heart for the past couple of months, so here you go.

The Christian life is all about worship. It can be in many different forms. When you hear the word worship, you probably automatically think about music. Most people do.

But, worship is also in prayer, studying His Word, and in simply living life. God has called us, His chosen people, to live a life pleasing and glorifying to Him.

Considering what's at stake, we should want to do anything for our Lord and Savior, who shed His blood as a sacrifice not only for our sins as one person, but for the sins of the entire world!

Can you imagine? Sending your only son to earth, only to sacrifice him for the sins of humans? I, for one, don't think I'll ever understand the amount of love that took.

Then, Jesus proceeded to rise from the grave. Think about it. There's nothing more final than death. Yet our Savior conquered the grave! He is living and active in our lives!

Most of us will read this, think about it for awhile, and then the awesome feeling of being loved-truly loved-will go away.

We will go on with our daily lives, letting ourselves get stressed out and worked up about the things happening in our lives.

We'll go to church on Sunday, feel good for an hour, and the cycle repeats. Even at church, where we come together as believers, saved by the same loving and powerful God, we will hold back.

The feeling of being loved and cared for by the Creator of the entire universe should never go away! We should want to sing and dance for joy, because the Powerful One has chosen us to fall deeply in love with and know everything about. And not only us (as individuals), but every single person who has lived, is living, and will live on this earth!

Take a second to absorb that. He loves us-truly loves us! He cares for us, and He always will!

This life is not about us. God made the world, He made us, and gave us life. Most importantly, He gave us life in Him. He made us so we could praise Him and share His name, and bring it to the ends of the earth.

There are so many people who haven't had the opportunity to hear the gospel. So many people who need to know that there is someone who loves them, because they feel hopeless. They feel lost. They feel unloved.
No one deserves to feel that way.

Before Christ, we were the same as them. Hopeless. Lost. We felt unloved.

So, here's a challenge for you. Live your life as an offering to God. Show His love and kindness to everyone you meet.
Show the world how great of a God we serve by like like Him!

Live worship. Love worship. Serve Him.

Prayers, please

I would appreciate prayers at this time in my life...a time of seeking the Lord's will, and what my next step should be...my life feels so full of big decisions right now as I feel completely different about my life than I did 6 months ago.
Thanks for the prayers.
Love you all!
Rachel

Being Home...

Being home has been really great. But, now I feel like I should be going back, like this was a Christmas break. Honestly, I miss it terribly. I find myself thinking about Nicaragua constantly, thinking about the kids, what I would be doing at certain times, and wanting to go back. I look at pictures with some of my favorite kids for minutes at a time.

I'm going to answer the question that everybody has been asking: What's next?
Immediately, I'm taking 2 classes at Kuyper, and working full time doing respite care. After this semester, I have no idea. Well, I have ideas, but we'll see what God shows me. :)
I'm taking this semester, each day, as it comes. It's something that's hard to do, but is really good for me.
Right now, I can see myself living, and want to live on the mission field someday. Where? I don't know. When? No idea. I just know that if it's part of God's plan, it will all happen in His time.
While it's hard to let it all go and give it to God, it's been totally worth it so far. He hasn't disappointed me, and I don't anticipate disappointment.

God is revealing Himself and His heart more and more to me each day, and for now, I'm enjoying it, and it's more than enough. I'm falling more and more in love with Him each day. :)

Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement!!
Love,
Rachel

HOME!!!

I am back in Michigan!!!
I made it safe and sound, with little problem!
Thanks everyone, for your prayers and thoughts over the last four months as I was serving Him in Nicaragua!!!

A Time to be Thankful

Well, it's been about a month since I've updated, so I thought that it was time! :)

I can hardly believe that I have less than a month here! I'm not counting down the time until I leave, but instead, the time until my parents arrive!! They'll be here on December 14, and I can hardly wait! I can honestly say that the past month has gone really fast. I've been staying pretty busy, especially the past few weekends, which really helps the time to go by fast.

My time at the school has also been going well. I am constantly frustrated with the language barrier, and try really hard to learn more, but it's so challenging. I'm basically learning by ear, which I don't do too well with. I understand quite a bit of what's being said, but talking to people is incredibly hard for me. I think that, if I was staying here longer, I would want to be in consistent Spanish classes so that I could continue to learn how to put sentences together better. I'm getting by just fine with what I know, but it's frustrating all the same.

The kids are so precious. Their smiles are contagious. I only have 2 full school weeks with them before their Christmas parties, and then I go home. I can honestly say that I have learned a lot, because special education is so much different here than it is in the States. Special Education, the way that it is in the States, is a blessing for sure! It's easy to complain about problems in a system that you're used to, but I don't feel like I have a right to complain about it anymore. It's a blessing to these kids that they get any kind of education at all. There are so many 'regular education' kids that don't get the opportunity to go to school, or want to go to school, so the fact that these kids have a place where their disabilities are addressed is amazing. So, in the spirit of the season, be thankful for school--even though it's hard sometimes! :)

Speaking of being thankful, this was my first Thanksgiving away from home, and I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. It was weird talking to my family about their plans, knowing that I wasn't included in them. But, I am so blessed that I have so many Americans around me that I could celebrate Thanksgiving with, not only once, but three times! The church that I go to, ICF (International Christian fellowship), had a big Thanksgiving dinner this past Sunday, which was delicious! We also had a time of giving thanks to God, and of course good fellowship. Then, on Wednesday, I had dinner with a friend and her family who is here visiting for Thanksgiving. Last night was also great...I had another traditional Thanksgiving meal with a few other missionary families. It was such a nice time of fellowship and playing games!

I feel so blessed that I had the opportunity, as a missionary, to celebrate this season of thanks with so many other Americans. I know that there are plenty of missionaries around the world that are in remote places and don't have the kind of options that I did for celebration.

For the sake of tradition, I'm going to share one thing that I am thankful for.
This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for God's promises that we, as His children, don't have to worry. I tend to worry constantly, and am incredibly anxious about a lot of decisions, and just my life in general. I am learning more and more that life is so much more enjoyable when I just give it all up to Him! I know, it sounds like something I should have known, right? Well, I did know it, but it takes an incredible amount of faith to actually do it! It's so scary, but at the same time very exciting!
I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for me once I get back to the States-how my time here will shape my thinking and what my future holds.

I once again THANK YOU for all your prayers, love, and support! I would have never made it this far without them!

Love,
Rachel

Just an Update...

So I thought that it might be a good idea to update everyone on how I've been doing, and the work I've been doing at the school!

My time at the school is going well.
The school is split up into two sections. There's the school area (for the higher functioning kids) and the early intervention area (this is also where children who are severely impaired are). I've been spending the majority of my time in the school area. This is mostly due to the fact that the moms stay with the kids who are in the early intervention area, so it doesn't feel like there's as much that I can do to help there.
It's been going pretty well. It's very tricky and frustrating that I can't speak to the kids very well. I feel so lost on some days, because it's like I've completely lost my voice.
When the kids get there in the morning, they sing and do some sign language work. Then, they go to the class area and do crafts, homework, fine motor skill work, and things like flashcards to learn animals, flowers, etc. I just help out wherever I'm needed. They also have a computer program that they do dictations with.
A week ago, Jackie, another American who was working at the school, left after being there for one month. She is a professor at a college in Massachusetts and does Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy. I really enjoyed having her there! It was really nice to speak English, and I really learned a lot from her!
I am now 'in charge' of doing a side lying board for kids who are severely impaired. Basically, most of these kids spend all of their time (literally!) on their backs, and some of them are developing severe scoliosis because of the positions that they are in all the time. This board is so that they get time to lay on their side, and while they're lying there, I do sensory stimulation. Some of the kids don't even realize what their hands can do...so I rub things with different textures over their hands, arms, and faces. It's interesting to see the different reactions based on the child!
Per Jackie's suggestion, we also started a store...which I am also in charge of! Basically, we went to the market and bought a bunch of trinkets that we're selling to the kids. They earn tickets based on their academic/behavioral performance over a week's time. Each ticket is worth 1 cordoba. They come to me with their tickets, and I give them the number of cordobas that corresponds with the tickets. They can then purchase things based on how much money they have. It's nice for them to have experience working with money, and get a reward for doing well on their school work! They love it too!
I just found out today that I will be working with a kid on Friday afternoons being his 'aide'. He's new to the program, and they aren't really sure what to do with him sometimes-his reactions to certain situations need to be re-directed. So, they're hoping that maybe having someone work one on one with him will help...so I'm going to give it a try, and have some ideas of what could be done to make both his experience, as well as the teachers', be better, especially since he only comes once a week!
That's pretty much what's been going on at the school. Outside of school, I've been hanging out with some other missionaries down here--trying to get connected! It's the one thing that's especially hard about living with a host family. I'm kind of disconnected from other Americans. I'm also hoping to take a general Bible class for the rest of my time here, so that I have something to occupy my nights, and it will definitely be good for me in many other ways!
Thanks SO much for the love and support! I SO appreciate it!
Love,
Rachel

A Mother's Love

You’ve all heard the analogies and the poems expressing the love that a mother has for her child. It’s true. The love that is shown by a mother to her children is inexpressible and true. I’ve always known that. I have a mother that shows that kind of forgiving love to me.
I've never seen a mother's love as amplified as I have seen it here. You know that children with special needs have a hard time in the States being accepted and loved by society, and sometimes, even their own families. All the mothers that I have met and observed here have a love for their child with special needs that melts my heart. It humbles me and amazes me.
They are so poor, some living in tiny houses made of scrap metal and wood, doing everything they can just to survive. Despite their circumstances, despite the trials that they face every day, they love their children, especially their child with special needs. It would be easy for them to hand them off to an orphanage, abandon them. Their lives are challenging, their stories heartbreaking, their children precious. Yet still they press on and love with all they are.
Like I said, we think that some children have it bad in the States, and some children do struggle in the States. Nothing compares to the struggles of a child with special needs here. It's drastic, real, and tragic. The mothers don't have lifts in their homes to move their child around the home, they don't have wheelchairs to get them around the neighborhood, they don't have handicap accessible vans, and they don't have houses considered adequate for occupying a person with special needs.
These mothers carry around their children everywhere, no matter how big they are. They have no choice. You should see some of the kids at the school. It's not that they're big-most of them are as thin as a rail. They are just long and with the way that their bodies are because of their disabilities, it's not always easy to pick them up and keep a good grasp on them. If you've ever worked with a person with a severe disability, such as severe Cerebral Palsy, you know what I'm talking about.
As I was talking to another person at the school today (who's American), we were discussing this very thing. How long are these mothers going to be able to do this? Their backs eventually aren't going to let them, and they're going to have severe problems when they keep lifting their children despite their pain. They do it despite their pain.
They love tirelessly, smile despite their circumstances, and what do I get out of it?
A challenge! What if I loved like that? No matter how much pain (physical or otherwise) it causes me, to love my enemies, and not only my enemies, but everyone around me.
When my body or my mind says "I can't take it anymore!", I press on and keep on loving!
So much easier said than done, but a good challenge none the less.

Thanks so much for reading...love you all!
Rachel