Personal

Throughout the weekend, I’ve been trying to process the best way to share with you what’s been happening here at CROSS-training.  Sunday’s experience is the perfect representation of my time here so far. 

It’s been an intense two weeks.  We’ve had a busy schedule, but the more tiring part has been that the material requires us to process what we’re learning on a personal level rather than just a professional one.  While this has made it more challenging, I’m thankful because it’s been more fruitful and allowed for genuine growth.

As part of our cross-cultural training, we’re to attend ethnic church services while we’re here.

One of the girls I’m in training with, Emily, and I grabbed coffee at Starbucks before heading to a Brazilian church service last night.  We went to Sbux with the intention of doing some homework for training, but we ended up just talking through where we are personally in just trying to learn who God is and what He wants in and for our lives.  Unfinished homework aside, this was actually God opening our eyes for a reminder of how personal and specific he is.

When we arrived at the Brazilian church, a few people in a Sunday school room welcomed us.  Our apologetic “we don’t speak any Portuguese,” was answered with a hug and a kiss from the pastor’s wife.  There were only about 20 people there.   Their relaxed loving attitude was beautiful.  The Pastor shared from Ezra about God’s gracious hand, and his daughter translated.  I can’t believe how relevant this message was to our circumstances.  Some of the phrases he used were the exact ones I had voiced confusion about at the Starbucks just moments before.  It has been so amazing to see God meet us right where we are in the midst of this training process.

I came to training with the idea that I needed to push aside whatever obstacles I came with and learn what was planned for me.  I planned to process the challenges I was experiencing later, but God has continually put those things right in front of me in training. I have had to digest them and be honest and learn.  Whether through a training session, a teammate’s comment, or a Brazilian pastor (who’s words I can’t understand on my own), God has been gracious enough to continually show me that he’s not interested in leaving my heart behind.

I know this is a beautiful example of his love for us, caring more about our hearts, than anything we try to do for him.  He cares more about our relationship with him, than a checklist in a curriculum.

I’m really thankful for a God like that, and I want to know him more and pray that he will reveal more of his plan and timing through this training.

Looking forward to hearing from you and sharing more with you soon :)

Beka