the trade

I heard a quote recently that made me re-evaluate my moments…

“I hope you enjoy what you’re doing right now, because you just traded an hour of your life for it.”

If this is true, we’ve traded a lot of hours of our lives this summer for time in the car.  A lot of hours with friends and family.  A lot of hours “raising support.”

But I’ll tell you what.  At the start this summer, we kind of threw the raising support model out the car window and have instead felt an incredible burden to boldly proclaim the simple and life-changing message of the Gospel everywhere we went.  

By our last church, Matt was simply throwing "and if you feel led, we sure do need your money" in while stepping off the stage. Let God take care of our support.  We don’t have anything revolutionary or life-transforming to share outside of His Word.

And I am simply overjoyed and incredibly blessed to look back at our time in the States, now quickly drawing to a close, and realize that we have traded a lot of our lives these past two months preaching the Gospel message and nothing else. 

As I sat surrounded by our brothers and sisters at Bethel Church on Saturday and Sunday and listened to Matt share from Job (I'll get the pod-cast link up as soon as it's available), I wanted what He offers all the more.  All over again. 

As I spoke to dozens of people afterwards, hearing powerful testimonies of lives down the drain risen again by Christ, moments next to deathbeds, rock-bottom situations transformed, I wanted my life to be HIS all over again, wanted to serve Him with all I am all the more.

As I talked to Junior about what’s happening in Tru-du-Nord, listened to his passionate stories of their first conversions, of men and women baptized, listened to his prayers and burdens and joys, I was grateful all over again to be His daughter in Haiti, to be living life alongside of our brothers and sisters of Haitian birth, burdened all over again for the true Gospel to be shared in every place.

There is something quite contagious about sharing the Gospel with one person, with 1000 people, that makes you want to do it MORE.

After going, going, going, pushing, moving, and pouring, I’d be lying if I told you we weren’t just exhausted.  We are. So. Tired.  Every time we get back in the car, even for 30 minutes, we decide who gets to sleep and who has to drive.

But that didn’t keep Matt, after preaching three sermons Sunday morning/afternoon, from saying passionately, “Stace, we’ve just GOT to do more!  We’ve GOT to do more to preach the Gospel.  It is ALL that is needed.  It’s not being preached SO many places, in Haiti and in the States and around the world.  We’ve got to do more!”

I don’t know how many more hours we have.  And I don’t know where He’s going to have us spending them.  But I know what we’ve got to do with them. 

And we’re so grateful He's given them to us to trade in.