I love the word
entrusted. It carries a deep imagery of care and compassion that I find difficult to put into words. I picture God holding me in His hands, entrusted to continually take care of me. I picture Him, in turn, challenging me to hold onto others, Him trusting that I can give an outpouring of His love into the lives of others.
This morning, my personal devotional was about the passage in Luke that talks about the master and his servants. The servant beats the menservants and maidservants because he doesn't think his master is coming back. Jesus tells the parable to prove this crucial point, "
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48)
As I think over what God has entrusted me with over the last 3 years here, my heart is definitely filled with joy and gladness over what He has given me. These precious girls have been such a blessing in my life. They have taught me how to love. They have taught me what it looks like to be supportive and encouraging friends. They have taught me that I desire to someday have children that have many of the personality traits that each one possesses. I could go on and on as to why I love them so deeply.
God has definitely entrusted them into my care. Although I deeply miss them as students, I know that God is still working on our relationships. I am lucky enough to see them everyday during break time, lunch time, after school, and any other random times I happen to bop into their classroom. They still make me feel special every time that I get hugs or notes or encouragement from them.
They still invite me to their birthday parties and their parents still love on and accept me, just like they did last year. It feels good to still be loved by them and their parents too. I love having them over to my house. I love that God has entrusted me with guarding their hearts for the future, teaching them about Him and his beautiful saving power, and the deep glorious riches that they can possess when they trust in Him. For them, I would ask you to pray that they would continue to grow in their knowledge and faith in Jesus, despite what the world may tell them. I love their innocence and pray that it would continue throughout the rest of their lives. These precious little girls have a special place in my heart, and I am so thankful that I have gotten to know each and every one of them.
Entrusted.
Another area in which God has entrusted me over these three years is with the friendships that I have built. I know that God has definitely blessed me with the gift of encouragement and I love to pour out the love that God has shown me onto my friends. When I first came to this country, I was so unaware of the deep love that I would feel for my coworkers. In our small, close-knit community, my coworkers have become deep friends that I can't imagine my life without.
I feel entrusted with the ups and downs of their lives. I feel entrusted with the need to pray for them. And now that many are starting a new chapter in their lives, I feel entrusted to care for them in a new way, supporting them and encouraging them. As I honestly realize my time
here in the DR is short, I feel burdened to deepen the relationships and really pour myself into them as I know that so many have done to me in the past. I'm thankful God has given me the opportunity to shine and pour myself into the people that I care about. I also love that I am able to entrust my life into the lives of my friends here. I feel such warmth and encouragement when I am able to talk about life and my heart with the people that I know care deeply about me.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I realize more and more how thankful I am for the blessings that God has so graciously given me. Blessings of new and old friends, blessings of students and how they teach me how to love, blessings of the joy of the journey...
Last Wednesday, I spent my afternoon tye-dying and eating pizza with my 5th grade girls. It was such a blast. Although I didn't take any pictures of us in the actual process, all of them wore their t-shirts/bandanas on Friday, so I decided to have a little photo shoot. It was such a blast to hang out with all of them, although it was crazy! :) On Friday, one of my students, Laura, told me that her mom bought her cookies (I think a cookie mix) to do at my house because her mom likes it when she comes to my house and bakes things. I laughed a little inside when she told me this, but of course told her I would love to have her come over to my house to bake! :)
