Sometimes It's The Little Things

One car has a dead battery, leaving my teenager stranded at the store. 

All three males in the house come down with some sort of cold virus leaving them feverish, achy, and miserable.

While pulling out of the drive, running behind for school as usual, my van has a completely flat tire. 

Browsing through the mail pile I have ignored for way too long, it comes to my attention that we have some unexpected expenses that need to be paid.

In less than two weeks, I'll be boarding a plane again, this time on my way back to Haiti. We'll be doing four days of medical clinics, visiting the local orphanages, and spending time with the church we partner with.

I've been doing fundraising yard sales, attending team meetings, and trying to get both my mind and my heart ready to go. After all, this isn't a vacation, it's a mission trip. It isn't just about having fun with my sweet brothers and sisters, which I'm sure to do, but more importantly, this trip is about glorifying God.

In our team meetings, we've been focusing on Luke 7:11-17. In this passage, Jesus is traveling through the town of Nain where He performs the miracle of bringing a young man back to life. In studying these verses, we see that Jesus saw a need, was moved to compassion by what He saw, He then physically reached out to the mother and the son, and because of what He did, the people praised God and responded that "God has come to help His people." That's our prayer for this trip. We have been moved to reach out in love to the people of Haiti. But more importantly, we want them to know that God sees them, and by using us, He is reaching out to them. He is glorified, and He is the one that deserves all the praise.

But see that list up at the top of my post? That has been my life these past few weeks. Take any one of those items, and they really aren't any major crisis. However, put them all together and maybe you can see how it feels like it is just one thing after another. And sometimes, the little things can be the thing that breaks you down.

More often than not, I picture satan as the enemy that "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) He's the one orchestrating major attacks on the believer's life - death of a loved one, a child with a drug abuse problem, loss of employment, unexpected illness. In these life shattering moments, your faith is tested, you can become overwhelmed by the crisis, sink down into despair and shock, and lose your focus on God.

However, it's become apparent these past few days, that spiritual warfare doesn't come in standardized packaging. Sometimes the enemy's attack is carried it out in tiny little maneuvers. One small annoyance after another. Just a pebble thrown at you here and there, until you're left a frazzled mess staring at the sky asking, "What next?!" No major life-altering event, but I'm still left with my focus on me and a list of whiny complaints that has kept me from fully preparing myself mentally and spiritually for this trip.

Ever been there?

So as I continue to pack my bags, I'm also clinging to prayer that God can help me turn away from that which seeks to distract me, allowing me to reflect Him in all that I say and do.

I don't want to leave the people of Haiti with the memory of a girl who handed them a bag of rice and beans, I want them to know that God saw them in their hunger and fed them. I don't want them to just attend the clinic, but I want them to know that God saw them in their illness and sent a physician.  I don't want Satan to keep them bound in their hopelessness, I want them to know, long before they took a breath, He made a sacrifice so they might be saved.

So maybe when you say a prayer tonight, you'll pray for my team as well. Pray for our health and traveling safety, pray for our families that we leave behind, pray that the people's hearts would be softened to hear what we have to share, and that in all we say and do, God would be glorified.