17h 25min, jul 16, 2016 y - My third mission trip
Description:
This trip is forever infamous. I went on this trip with people who were not as solid with their faith, and to be honest, neither was I. I had an awareness of my vulnerability, which made it harder to grow. On the other-hand, I had the absolute best work crew, I am tearing up thinking about these relateable goofy souls. We CLICKED the moment we met. I never in my life thought that I would laugh that much on a hot roof in Georgia, but God is crazy. I genuinely loved these people, in the midst of our differences, we formed the strongest bond a group of strangers could form. Looking back now, I needed these people to be there for me in the midst of what was to come. On Thursday, July 21, after a successful day of roofing, I got a phone call from my mother announcing that my best friend's father, who I viewed as family, had died. Suddenly. His heart just stopped. I broke. I literally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually broke. And those people who I came to Savannah with, the ones who've only seen my bubbly side, the girl who wears french braids, socks and Birkenstocks, and sings every word of the worship songs, all saw me at my absolute worst. I was confused, angry, and utterly distraught. I could write about this day for...well...days because the emotions were so powerful, I could not help to observe everything around me to avoid thinking about the earthquake hitting my life. This is significant to my faith because:
1. I witnessed God's love in the empathy of others. I saw teenage boys humble themselves to my low, pathetic level, as I sat in a ball on a park bench in the middle of the night, not even wanting to be around myself because of the knowledge in my mind. I saw mission trip leaders set aside a small auditorium for our youth group to mourn, even though maybe 1/13th of us were actually mourning, and the rest was just trying to allow themselves to sink that deep into empathy. I built up a wall around myself for the rest of the trip, and in the face of some, that wall still stands
2. I did not blame God. For some reason, I did not. I felt no anger towards Him. I trusted Him.
Added to timeline:
Spiritual Timeline
Date:
