Broken and Spilled Out

I’ve been home from Colombia for less than 72 hours. Not nearly enough time to process the life-changing experience that this mission trip was. But I need to write. Before I forget the raw emotion that right now is almost overwhelming.

I saw God do miracles. I saw the entire atmosphere of a neighborhood change when His people worshipped and sought their God on their knees. I got to be a conduit of God’s love to so many people. Working with my Colombian sisters in Christ, I led over 50 people to trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior. My team broke and bonded and cried and praised. God worked deeply in all of our hearts, not just the people we went to serve.

Words can’t describe how amazing that is. There is nothing else quite like being broken and spilled out like this. We were tested. We were asked to do things way out of our comfort zone. We did things we were completely unable to do in our own power. God took our mustard seeds of faith, and He moved mountains. He changed hearts. He spilled us out for His glory, and He filled us up again. It’s a continual thing, this breaking and spilling and filling.

Being broken and spilled out isn’t just something that happens overseas. I’ve experienced it at a similar intensity before. And there is a constant choice to allow God to break me and work through me on a daily basis, even in the small things.

But going on this mission trip with e3partners allowed me to experience God at a beautiful, deep, powerful level for a week, and there is something about that intense ministry that worked in my heart in a way unlike anything else. I trusted God for bigger things than I maybe ever had before. And my God was FAITHFUL. He is faithful.

Going to Colombia was a privilege and joy. In some ways, I can’t believe I didn’t go sooner. But I know God’s timing is perfect, and this is when He wanted me to go.

Yes, I’m physically and emotionally exhausted. My body crashed like I can’t remember ever crashing before on the 27 hour trip home. I cried more than I have in a very long time. But there is no reward without a struggle. The greatest joy is found in the midst of the greatest pain, sometimes. It was SO worth it.

God didn’t call me to the easy life. If you’re His child, He didn’t call you to the easy life. He called us to be ministers of reconciliation. He called us to go into all the world and make disciples. He called us to love others as He has loved us, with a sacrificial love. He never said it would be easy. He said He would be with us. And that, my friends, is a beautiful thing.

You can never out-give God. Trust Him. With your whole life. With everything you have. Allow Him to break you. Pour yourself out. Let Him pour out through you. Seek His face and be filled up. It’s worth every bit of heartache and discomfort.

Soli Deo Gloria.

~Andrea