Ears to Hear

“Thanks for coming here to Swaziland. You left your beloved family and came to people you didn’t even know, you didn’t know how they were going to welcome you. You left behind the fun memories that you would have had with your friends and relatives. As young as you are it is hard to surrender everything to God while the world has surrounded us with things that will tempt us to forget about God. Concentrate on Him. Wow, how brave are you to leave even your loved ones and come to us, if it was me I wouldn’t be able to leave my family and friends and come to Swaziland. Always know that I love you ❤️ and more than that there is someone who loves you more than me and that person is God.”

I’ve been thinking about my time here and how it is coming to a close… it’s hard to imagine that I’ve been here for nearly a year, time really does fly. One of the girls wrote me the message above only a few weeks into teaching last year. I read it whenever I feel like I don’t belong here. When I miss home and question what this is all for. This sweet girl. She saw from the very beginning the leap of faith I took. I am so glad I did. I’m so glad I said yes to Jesus when He said, “go there.” I knew coming into this I’d miss home and the people who make up that home. What I didn’t know is that I’d also call Swaziland home. I didn’t know I’d look at these 16 girls and think, “these are my sisters” or look at our aunties and think of them as moms. Jesus is doing something incredible here. He’s revealing himself in the girls lives as he draws them closer to himself. He’s revealing himself in the literal storm raging outside right now. He’s revealing himself in the way he has provided for Hosea’s Heart. This morning, as the girls did a prayer walk, I read Revelation 1-2, and a part stood out to me. Jesus is encouraging and correcting the 7 churches and he says after each message to them, “anyone who has ears to hear must listen to the Spirit.” Despite the fact that I have ears, I don’t always listen to what the Spirit is asking of me. We all slip up. But it was a reminder to me that I am called to be obedient. It’s not going to be easy, but it will be fruitful. It will be worth it. If I hadn’t listened to the Spirit this time last year, I wouldn’t be quarantined in Swaziland with a bunch of girls. I wouldn’t have learned each of their names or gotten to know their personalities. The girl who wrote me and encouraged me above would have never known I existed. I wouldn’t have grown in the ways I have, because I have experienced things here that I would never have dreamed of experiencing back home. Yes, being obedient is hard. For me, it meant missing Hannah’s graduation, missing out on the first 6 months of Phoebes’ life, missing Silas accepting Jesus (PRIASE JESUS!), missing out on family adventures and memories that they will laugh about around the dinner table someday, things I would not have been apart of. I missed out on one life to join and be apart of another. Like so many people have said during these last few months of chaos… one thing is constant in it all, and that’s Jesus. My siblings have grown and changed, I have grown and changed, the girls here have even grown and changed since last August, but Jesus? Nah. He’s still my comforter, my protector, and my Father. He has not left me or forgotten about me, which is so easy to feel like when there is an 8 hour time difference between you and those you love. He’s still Him. I can count on that. Jesus, even when it’s hard, I want to have ears to hear and listen to the Advocate’s leading. I’ve experienced the blessings that come from that obedience. Give everyone else the courage to listen too.