Live without expectations.

Last week my mission team for Honduras spent Monday together. Eating, watching a movie and playing games. The purpose of this day was to bond as a team. Personally I'm a big fan of bonding, and laughing, and talking. So basically it was a perfect day for me. Plus, I got to do my laundry. One of the perks of being a college student is how much your appreciation for free laundry increases once you've been away at school.

Part way through we did a little get to know you game and then we had sharing time. The question, "What do you want to personally gain from going on this trip to Honduras?". After being on the mission team that went to Honduras last year, my life changed. I think of my babies every single day. When Honduras is mentioned, my body reacts. I get butterflies, my heart starts beating a little faster and I grin like a fool. So what did I want to personally gain from going to Honduras? Easy. I wanted to experience love in it's most plain and simple form. I wanted to experience God in his purest form. I wanted to be with my babies. As we went around the circle everyone's answer rang true with me in some way. As a group we want to help the Honduran people in any way we can. As a group we want to love on all of the babies at Por Los Ninos. As a group we want to see God in the bright blue skies and the dirty green mountains, in the chocolate brown faces of the people, in the easy going attitude of a country that understands simplicity.

 But then it was Dirks turn to speak. Naturally he said something that made us think. If you know Dirk, you know what I mean. He said, "Don't go in with any expectations. Many of you have been there before and have seen God in ways that you could have never imagined. And that's good. But this time, don't go in expecting to see God in the exact ways you saw him last time. Don't go in with any expectations. Often times when we go in expecting to see God in certain ways, we miss him in other things." I sat there for a minute just taking in his words. Anyone that I've talked to about Honduras knows that I saw God. I saw God specifically in my baby Jose Armando. And I'm so thankful for that. So thankful. And if I'm being honest, he has been one of the biggest reasons I've wanted to go back to Honduras. 

Not the only reason. But one of the strongest reasons.

 

 So I started thinking. And in that moment I "took my blinders off". I knew I'd see God in Jose again. But I also knew that God was not just living in Jose Armando. God was living in Honduras. In every single one of those children, in my mission team, in the Honduran people and in me. The opportunities I'm going to have to see him are far greater than anything I can expect.

My God is bigger than my expectations.

  

forty-one days