Luke 10:
I'm sure everyone has their own idea of what it must have been like in Jesus' day, being one of his followers or even in the any years to come where people like Paul went out to plant and encourage churches. Well, during our Luke 10 journey in Paraguay it felt to me as if we went back in time. After God blessed us with money through two different people, we were well on our way to a little town we knew nothing about, except that God placed it on our hearts. A town called Benjamin Aceval, mas o menas 90km out of Asuncion, the capital city. It felt way further though...my Brazilian brother, being used to Sao Paulo, described it as a big farm.
Long story short, many doors were closed so that we finally came upon a small Baptist church where the Pastor and his wife took us in. (It took a while to convince them that we were neither Jehovah witnesses nor Mormons nor completely out of our minds). We spent our time inviting people to the church, praying for people, ministering to youths in the church, preaching and getting to know our man and lady of peace. The more time we spent with them, the more they opened up towards us and the more we could encourage them where they needed it most.
For me to write down my whole Luke10 experience would probably take a day and it would seem extremely boring, because it wasn't the big things that happened that impacted us the most. It was every cup of coffee, or every story they told us. It was the small words of appreciation that came out in normal conversations, or even small gestures like paying for our bus ride. It was the tears that were shed, when the Pastor prayed a thanksgiving prayer to God for sending more workers to their church, when his wife admitted that we were like angels to her and also from my side when I was so touched by what they are going through that I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. What impacted me most was the revelation that a salvation-prayer out of the mouth of a depressive man is just as much a healing miracle as seeing someone use their broken leg again without pain or the realization that our mere presence meant something to many teenagers who are busy looking for more in life.
Between our team mates we keep on saying that even if we had to go just for the one special conversation we had with the couple who invited us into their home, then it was worth it for us. And this really is the truth, but the more I look back on it, the more I realize that is WASN'T the only reason why God sent us there. I realize that when you decide to take a leap of faith, stepping into what God planned for you and following His voice, there will be miracles!! God blesses obedience, in many different ways. It might not be in the same way that we want it, like seeing someone rise from the dead or seeing an angel face to face...but it will be there! So this is what I learned: I learned to be just as excited over having the opportunity to encourage the Body or to stand while God fights a spiritual battle, as I would be over the opportunity of praying for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Because God's glory cannot be restricted to "wonder-moments", or to what we see as miracles. God's glory is shown every single day in the little things, the seemingly unimportant conversations and every random wow-moment you experience in your thoughts (those ones you are never quite able to fully share with anybody but God, because you know it can only be understood by personal experience)
We left the church and our new friends with a heavy heart, but also with a hand-written letter for the church of Benjamin Aceval, written by the servants of Christ Jesus, appointed by God to be tools for the work He wants to do through us. And we had peace.