Today was filled with ups and downs and I think for a minute I felt defeated, maybe even felt a little like Jesus must have felt when people mocked him or didn't believe in him (not that anyone made fun of us or put a crown of thorns on our heads). Yesterday was amazing and today didn't necessarily compare. Today's school seemed sad, something was just "off" without a better way to explain it. Thankfully we have a team of really awesome people, who recognize the "elephant in the room" as one pastor stated today and immediately there were prayers said to kick the devil out of that building and teams setting out to walk and pray around the building. On my walk around the building, I just didn't see much joy or many smiles. We got a chance to speak with the resource officer in that school (which is not a police officer...for my VA people!) She shared so many of the struggles in that school and in her own personal life. We spent time listening and praying with her, and found out they were collecting prom dresses for their students, because if the girls don't have dresses, they won't come.
Guess what we had hundreds of....prom dresses...but they were back at Calvary Campus...back across 2 mountains. So the next day, we drove back over those mountains and brought they boxes of dresses! (sorry I totally just jumped ahead to day 3...but it fit here!)
(Back to day 2) Don't get me wrong, there were sweet moments in that building today.
And I'm pretty sure I forgot to thank God for them, because like life, I got caught up in the details....like "these kids aren't excited by us" or "the teachers aren't coming in" instead of the big picture of what was going on. We were still in a public school, teaching about Jesus...we didn't have to be across the street, we were in their building. We were planters today. We planted seeds. We spoke Jesus' name, and though many may not have responded to us, they knew who He was. I'd really like to peek in that school right now and see if there's any type of atmosphere change, and even more interested to head back next year and see the difference.
Looking back on this day, God was teaching me a lesson, and once you hear about day 3 and 4 its amazing to see how God planned this all out, not me. He was reminding me it's on His timing and sometimes, we just have to wait for what He has in store. When I left for Kentucky, I knew God was gonna have "a moment" just for me, when I was gonna know this is exactly why I came, my divine appointment... but I was getting impatient. Day 1 was a blast, Day 2 ended with sweetness....but I still hadn't had my moment...didn't God want me to know why He sent me here?!?!
I say the day ended sweetly because once we got back to Calvary Campus today, and we were just hanging out in our bunk, one of the sweet ladies I had served with for the past two days asked me about the blanket I had on my bunk.
That one question about my blanket that afternoon, led to an hour conversation about what brought us to Kentucky and all God had done in our lives. I selfishly love talking about Ellie, and I could probably talk for hours about her and the amazing things that have happened in our lives since cancer, but I'm starting to enjoy more and more bragging on what God has worked out for us. By the end of our chat, we were all in tears, goofy grinning and everyone had Buggin' for a Cure bracelets. This was the first time I cried since I had been in Kentucky....little did I know, God was about to open the flood gates in a big way the next morning, in Hardee's.
***So this wasn't straight journal, I really didn't write a lot about that day, I was tired and a little bummed. Now that I've had time to look back and reflect upon what was going on that day, I get it. I get that it's not always going to be perfect (in my eyes), but its always gonna be God led, even if we were at that school for just one kid, it was worth it!***
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