Skip to main content

The challenge of balance.

Friday 19 August 2011

Wednesday was really good. It was so great to spend time adoring God and praying in the project which is right in the middle of a community which is filled with so much darkness and hopelessness. After making some lunch (I was quite impressed with the fact that I managed to make rice the Brazilian way without burning it) we headed out to do some visits to families. My heart get so burdened with their situations. One family has 6 children and the father was sat talking badly about them in front of us. One of the boys went outside and sat crying. It’s hard to know how to deal with it. But it makes me so angry when parents do that, and it really makes me ask how it is possible to see a restoration both of the parents and the children. Most of the parents treat their children the way they were treated and when you add survival to it, it really isn’t easy...

On our wanderings around the community, mostly listening to the families talk, but also praying, I bumped into Carliane’s brother, Fransico. Oh how my heart broke! Tall and skinny (he’s grown so much since I worked with him 4 ½ years ago). He is 17 now. He waved at me and I asked him how he was doing. His response was “Igual da minha māe” (the same as my mother). His mother died about 4 years ago. She was a hard core crack addict and at 40 looked 70. He lived with her and felt a tremendous responsibility for her. After she died he continued in the community... and is not trapped in the same deadly cycle as she was. Addicted to crack and will end up just like her if nothing happens. He said he wanted to change and agreed that he had to want to for any change to happen. Whether or not he was really serious about changing remains to be seen... it’ll be good to check up on him when I’m there. But most of all to pray. Stand in the gap for him and pray that a miracle can happen like it did for his sister Carliane (who is doing really well and I am hoping to go see her one of these days).

The last few evenings I’ve been involved with ENVIA which is the night school run by YWAM for people from local churches. It’s a discipleship type programme with lectures 3 evenings as week and small groups in that. They have a group of 50+ students who are all so hungry for more of God. It’s really inspiring and gives me hope that the church is awake and God is working in hearts. I’ve sat in on a few classes, helped lead a little group in intercession and mostly prayed. It’ll be good to continue to be involved and see how that goes.

But with all of this I realised today that my time is filling up so quickly. And I haven’t even gone to the youth prisons yet, or visited the project with the pregnant teens... When you take into account that these “activities” also involve a 70 minute drive each way, it’s easy to see how the days are just flying by. And I don’t want to be so busy I don’t have time to be in the prayer room as well.

So today I am trying to create a bit of balance.

This morning I went out really early and got a manicure and pedicure (which is so cheap here) and now I feel like I’m getting settled. Probably all Brazilian women have their nails done, so now I am getting into the culture more.

Anyways, I got a ride to Aquiraz and took the bus back. It was fun to get the bus, and when I got off the lady who lives in the house in front of the farm walked with me and we had a good chat. Back here I’ve spent the day pretty much in the prayer room and just trying to not be so busy. In a bit I’m going to pop up to Selma so we can pray together. I was starting to feel quite rushed and so busy (starting early and getting to bed late), so it’s good to find balance. Tomorrow I’m taking a day off. Going to clean the house and then head into Fortaleza to shop a few things. Sunday and Monday aren’t super scheduled so I want to make a good schedule for the week ahead so I can have balance, yet really make the most of every day I’m here.

So yeah, right now I’m at peace. I’m sat in the office. Outside I hear the crickets. Inside the mosquitoes are flying around (I guess I’ll find out if my insect repellent works) and a little while ago there was a flying cockroach here, but he’s disappeared. All reminders that I’m in Brazil.

If you pray. Please keep praying for me!

Popular posts from this blog

Packing...again.

I just folded the last load of laundry and I’m almost packed. Off to the airport at 5am tomorrow morning, heading off to Amsterdam. I’m excited, a bit nervous, and wondering what it’ll be like. It’s been a good week at home with lots of quality time with family, especially the little nieces and nephew. I’m glad I’ll see them in April again. Well, not much to write and packing to be done and a bit of sleep would probably be a good idea too. Next time I write it’ll be from Amsterdam....
Read more

Single-tasking September: The art of single-tasking.

To change habits and ways of life, the motivation for change has to be strong, and the benefits outweigh the effort it takes to make the change.  For so long it’s seemed like the ability to multitask has been regarded as a great skill, but is it really a good thing? Recovering from burn-out, one of the effects I noticed was that it was harder to concentrate, and especially tricky trying to focus on many things at once. I’d try to multitask, only to realise that all tasks suffered from lack of capacity to complete any one of them. The challenge is that the habit of always doing many things at once goes deep, and when I tried to focus on just one thing, I found that it was actually really difficult.  As I did a little google search on the matter, I found it seems like multitasking isn’t as healthy as once thought, and that it doesn’t help productivity. Some even referred to it as “switch tasking”, in the sense that the brain isn’t doing many things at once, but shifting rapidly...
Read more

Walking through December: overcoming the challenge of language.

I just got done leading a Bible study in Spanish without a translation back-up, and it went really well. I am amazed at what we are actually able to do when we have no other option. It wasn’t a flawless flow of communication (that would have been a miracle), but together we figured out what I wanted to say. And I think it was good. I was blessed and they seemed blessed as well. The girls just left and I am sat here in my living room with the candles lit. It’s windy and rainy outside, and I am smiling. Happy. Not because I overcame the language challenge, but happy because of yet another beautiful time of bringing more of Jesus to the girls in our Bible study. I am thankful for the privilege of knowing them and standing with them in their journeys of knowing Jesus. And thankful that even when language is shaky, love is stronger and is communicated beyond mere words.
Read more