Two Mites

While we were in Honduras, we spent the first few days doing really neat things. We visited a natural hot spring, and saw some really beautiful Spanish influenced churches. We had also spent some time in a children's home called Miqueas 6:8. We so enjoyed running around with the kids, meeting the beautiful people who ran the home, and learning more about their stories. It really was like a dream of my heart coming true. But in the middle of it all I noticed something. Something was missing. I was going through the motions, but I wasn't being myself.

In these past few years God has been doing a beautiful work in me. Slowly, but surely He has stripped me of deep things in my heart that I didn't even know were there. Fear. Pride. Anxiety. A sense of keeping up appearances. And God began replacing them with truth. The Unshakeable kind. The kind that comes as God lays your foundation. And because of these changes, I had begun to come out of my shell. I was stepping out and praying for people, believing God to do for them what He has done for me. I had grown this dependency on God that brought such Joy to my heart. Whatever He wanted, I wanted...it's what drew me to Honduras in the first place. I heard Him whisper the name of Honduras into my prayer over the last 2 years, and I wanted to see what it was all about:)

Anyway, so here I am, in the beautiful country of Honduras, and I felt like I was just GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS... And that, my friends, was just not going to do. I realized I could literally go through this entire trip, do the ''nice things'' every person wants to do on a missions trip, and leave mainly unaffected. So very early Tuesday morning, I asked Ricky if I could go outside (into this beautiful, lush landscape, by the way:) and I began to talk to Jesus. I told Him I knew something was missing. And I asked Him to talk to me about it. So I opened my Bible and I landed on Luke 21.

                 "And He (Jesus) looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury,

                and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, Truly I

                I say to you that the poor widow has put in more than all; for all of these out of 

                their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in

                all the livelihood that she had."vs.1-4

And I felt like God stopped me in my tracks. See, because we have had so many children, and then adopted, fostered, and gone on this wild adventure of a missions trip so shortly after we returned from Ukraine, many people have labeled us as radical. And sometimes, friends, I have agreed with it. I have actually thought.."hey, we are doing pretty good, giving our YES to the Lord whenever He calls.." So we are living the Christian life, right? Except, when God stops you, and shows you that you aren't actually laying it all down. Out of my abundance I have given, but not out of my poverty.

 The thing is, the Lord laid down His ALL. He gave His life for me. And I have more to give. Only the Lord and I know what my ALL actually consists of, and I felt the Lord challenge me. He encouraged me and lovingly showed me that there were places in my life in which I wasn't giving my all. And for everyone, that will look different. But as soon as I decided to give it to Him, I immediately felt the difference. As tired as I was (my eyes gave me away:), I took the picture up top to remind myself everyday that I want to give my all, my TWO mites away. Because if there is one thing I have learned, it's that when you give the Lord something, HE makes the most incredibly beautiful things with it.

Love,

Monica<3