Inspired Rest

Just rest, and be, why is that so hard for me?

I thrive in work, I live to do,

but rest and wait is a chore.

Oh, how good it is just to be,

Just long enough to see,

How vast and great your love is for me.

To be still long enough to peek

Into the goodness of your work,

And to hear your quiet voice.

Your voice that comes and goes,

Roaring like the ocean waves,

spilling on the shore.

Still long enough to see a reflection

Of who you, and not myself,

have created me to be.

Your love swallows me,

Like the waves rushing on the shore,

I was not created to do, but simply created to be.

I wasn’t created to do your work,

I was graciously, humbly created

To have you work in me.

Father, help me be.

This is the room I was given to stay in this past weekend, right on the beach!  Several teachers and administrators at our school attended a WOTH (Women of the Harvest) retreat in Cape Coast.  We were sponsored by people state side to come to this beautiful beach and rest.  I had no idea what to expect coming into this - I just knew a cheap beach trip sounded awesome - sign me up! When we arrived, we were met by a huge team of volunteers who had come to Ghana to serve us.  We signed up for pedicures, massages, haircuts, etc.  These volunteers had taken off work, raised support, and traveled here just to love on us.  

(Here we are: Emily, Barbara, Joyce, Faith, myself, Kim, and Laurie, with the colonial figures in between - they are so funny, and also a constant reminder of the history between us "western" folks, and Africa.)

I have never experienced God's undeserving love for us like this.  The volunteers gave gifts of chocolate and cereal, time, sharing their life experiences, and random acts of kindness.  This might sound crazy - but I am in Africa to serve my great God - and it was so hard for me to transition into someone receiving the kindness.  Two different unplanned acts of kindness really broke my heart.  One day, I commented on one of the volunteer's shirt, you know, "Oh, your shirt is so cute!"  I didn't think anything of it, until dinner that night, when she found me to literally give me the shirt off her back.  I don't need a shirt.  I don't need anything, I am here to give and serve, and God has given me everything I need to do that.  And then He gave me a shirt that I didn't need.  The next day, another volunteer came and brought me, just me a package of dried cranberries, and a package of almonds.  She had heard me say that we couldn't get things like that here.  I can't even communicate what these things meant to me, what God was showing me about His character through these random acts of kindness.

"Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then,who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:9-11

I think I have just been programmed since I was a child, to do.  And God is continually revealing to me His Amazing Grace.  

"My chains are gone, I've been set free, my God my savior has ransomed me, and like a flood, His mercy falls, unending love, Amazing Grace."

I think God knew I needed some rest - we have been out of school for the H1N1 outbreak, then let out early for the retreat, then Monday was Ghana's independence day, and now I am home sick today! So, I hope to go back to school tomorrow for the two weeks until I fly home!