Reflections On Nicaragua
June 1, 2010
“How great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God, and all will see, how great, how great is our God”
My very first awareness this morning was those words. I’m being truthful; I woke up to that chorus running through my mind. I’m really not surprised. You see for the past four mornings I have awaken to different sounds . . . a tropical bird singing outside my window, the chirping of a gecko (who knew a gecko chirped!?!), the quiet movements of others in the room as they prepared for the day, and the soft clanging of our cooks, Ana Julio and Teresa, preparing our breakfast. I’ve spent the past five days in Nicaragua and that is why I believe even sleep could not prevent my heart from praising the greatness of our God.
What can I tell you about our trip that would give you a hint of what we experienced? I could tell of listening to women in our body teach Nicaraguan mothers the importance of and practical ways to help their children succeed in school. I could talk about how others shared why teaching children sexual purity is so important. I could share about sitting next to four year old, Emmanuel, as we watched Veggie Tales together and listening to him laugh and laugh. I could talk about our amazing youth and how they poured themselves out to teach, play with, love on, and spread the sweet aroma of Jesus on the kids of Nicaragua. Instead, I think I will tell you about what our great God did.
Our God allowed Spanish and English speaking followers to sing “Open The Eyes of Our Hearts Lord” in unison. While the words were different, the desire was the same. Our God gave courage to one of our youth to stand and share his testimony on Sunday. Our God used LH adults to clearly declare His plan of salvation for the people of Nicaragua. Our God used a big empty field where youth, adults, and kids of all ages played together, and affirmed in one team member’s heart why she had come on the trip. Our God used “air head” candies and different colored t-shirts as outreach tools. Our God used a baby to connect the hearts of moms from both countries. Our God used a “non-wedding” to give the Worship team and several members of the youth team a venue to play and share testimonies. And, on and on it went! In other words, our God used a five day trip to Nicaragua to knit hearts of all ages and nationalities together, to tear down cultural barriers, to give “eyes to see”, to develop friendships, to deeper our love for Him, to ignite a passion for the hurting and poor, and to make all that went more like Him. And, that is just the tip of what our great God did. ”Sing with me so all will see, how great, how great is our God”
-Anita Sisk