Giving Thanks to the Lord Always!

Florida far exceeded my expectations! Going into this past week I was expecting to be in the humid, very hot weather of Florida doing construction on homes but the Lord showed up in unexpected ways. AIM (Adventures in Missions) has a base down in Fort Myers Florida in a neighborhood called Harlem Heights, to help with the restoration after the devastating hurricane came through the area just over a year ago.

Throughout the week, my team had the splendid opportunity to work on two different homes doing cabinetry. We worked 9-4 Monday through Friday while in Florida, and during the evenings had different activities consisting of team times, ice cream, and sunset beach worship! I thought we would just be building cabinets and the Lord wouldn’t reveal Himself very clearly to me throughout that time…but man was I wrong! Tuesday afternoon we were leveling the cabinets by shimming them, and it came upon me that these people haven’t had a kitchen to cook a homemade meal and invite friends over in, for over a year. Not having one of the main rooms in the house, the kitchen to come home to and make a meal in is hard for individuals and families.

My team had the wonderful opportunity to meet the homeowner of the second house we installed cabinets into on Thursday afternoon. Her home was completely getting redone, so she has been living at her daughter’s home for the past year. She opened the door hesitantly, interested in who was installing cabinets into her home, as we were just putting up the last of the cabinets. She walked into her home slowly, continually saying, “Oh my goodness”. We all greeted her and welcomed her into her home, and as she turned the corner she said, “Oh my goodness, this is so beautiful. Thank you so very much. Thank you Lord.” She came into the kitchen and she was in such awe and gratitude of these cabinets towards us, and more importantly the Lord. We prayed for her, but once we finished she asked if she could sing her favorite song for us. She started singing the song Goodness of God for us. As she was beautifully singing with her soft spoken, awestruck voice, the group of us joined in. We stood in a circle, tears streaming down our faces, holding hands, and singing to our breathtaking Lord. She finished the song and prayed over us along with more thanks to the Lord.

That moment was so very special because through all the pain she has experienced, including losing her husband just before the hurricane, she has continually been giving thanks. She has been worshiping through the pain. Something that has been said a couple times at training camp that has stuck with me is “This side of Heaven is the only side we can worship through the pain on.” That has truly stuck with me!

DEBRIEF TAKEAWAYS

This past week has been a week of rest and reflection on the past five weeks. Here are some things I have been learning or in the process of learning:

• Each person’s relationship with the Lord is different. We all have a different relationship with Him so He will speak to each of us differently.
• How to be in continual conversation and communication with the Lord throughout the day, whether I am in a conversation or just making my day to day decisions.
• Learning how to become bold in my faith means fully leaning on the Lord and the Holy Spirit within myself.
• We can always be giving thanks to the Lord for who He is and what He has done no matter the season of life we are in.
• I am not on this trip for me, but for Jesus!!!

Small Update: We were supposed to leave for Guatemala this morning, but because of the political tension and shortages there currently, we will be leaving on Wednesday. If possible, prayers for peace in Guatemala ranging from the political office all the way to remote villages would be so amazing.

Contacting Me: I will not have international service while being overseas starting Wednesday. If you would like to contact me over the next 7 months, you can message me on Instagram, or send me a text on an app called Whatsapp. Text me at 651-270-7332 if you want to get connected over Whatsapp in the next couple days.

Thank you for all the prayers and love being sent!

Alexina (: