The PRESENT is a gift

Hey everyone! It’s me again. I’ve been reflecting a lot this past week on the two months we spent in Guatemala. I am filled with gratitude about all the memories we made there and the ways we saw God working in and through the people of Guatemala. I am so grateful for every moment, from riding in the back of a truck to ministry everyday to getting the opportunity to hike an active volcano! But most significantly I am thankful for the relationships that were made and grown in Guatemala. The relationships that were formed both with our ministry hosts, the people with whom we did life with everyday and the strangers that we met and maybe only interacted with for a few minutes but the impact of those conversations lasted much longer. I’m beyond thankful for the way that my relationships with my squadmates deepened over this time and especially how my relationship with the Lord grew so significantly. When I reflect back on my big takeaway from Guatemala, something that I feel like the Lord was showing me throughout our time there, was learning how to be PRESENT.

There was a lot of change that happened within our squad while we were in Guatemala. Our first month was spent in the teams we had been with the whole race and then after that time we had team changes. Therefore we had the opportunity to invest in newer relationships and learn to live with a different group of people. We also had two people from our squad be raised up to be our new squad leaders because our alumni squad leaders had to leave the field at the end of our time in Guatemala. I think there is something about change that makes you contemplate how precious time really is. In both the endings and the beginnings I was aware of the extra importance of staying present. As the days were winding down with my first team and then again in the time leading up to our squad leaders leaving, I felt the Lord encouraging me to cherish every moment with them. To be fully present with them and celebrate both the monumental moments and the little everyday things. As I look back I can see how special those last few weeks and days were together and I am so thankful that in the moment I was able to be present and understand how precious that time really was. I was also struck by the importance of being present in the beginnings. When we first got into our new teams I really wanted to embrace the newness and felt by focusing on being fully present with them I could best learn how to love and live with them well. As we were getting to know each other better it was really important to all be present in our conversations whether they be about our favorite snacks or the hurt in our pasts. I learned that being present in the current season doesn’t take away the value of the last season and that you can be both present in the now and thankful for the past. 

For me Guatemala also represented a time of growing in my understanding of what it means to be present with the Lord. One of my last posts was about learning to abide in the Lord. One of the definitions I mentioned in that post is that the word abide means ”to continue to be present”. I think a big factor for me in this was making more time for the Lord in my day. When I didn’t feel rushed or distracted I was able to enter into His presence in a deeper way. I also learned how being present with God can be just that, just being with Him in stillness. I think there is a special kind of intimacy with the Lord that is found when it’s just you and Him, no words or music or anything else, just seeking His presence. During the first half of Guatemala I grew in being present with God by making room for more intentional time in the mornings, but in the second half of Guatemala I learned what it looked like to be more present with Him all throughout my day. During our ATL (ask the Lord) weeks our squad was challenged and trained in hearing God’s voice and walking in obedience throughout our daily lives. I learned in order to be in tune with the Lord’s voice and walk in step with where he is leading you have to be present with Him in every part of the day. It takes a lot of intentionality to seek His presence and guidance in every moment. Though this is something I am still very much working on and growing in, this time of ATL really helped me experience more of what it means to be constantly present with God.

Something that really helped me be present both with God and with others was fasting my phone for the last three weeks of Guatemala. The thought of giving up my phone and my way of communicating was terrifying at first, but I really felt the Lord asking me to surrender this to Him. I won’t lie, initially it was really hard. It was shocking to see how reliant and addicted I was to my phone. I often found myself absentmindedly reaching for it, forgetting that I didn’t have it. I realized that my phone was my go to in times of boredom or awkwardness or when I was alone. But as a result, not having my phone helped me be more present with God and others throughout my day because instead of scrolling through instagram whenever I had down time I instead was led to start up a conversation or spend time in prayer. Since I didn’t have any way of communicating with “the outside world” I was able to be very present with the people that I was with, which was super important to me as we were just transitioning into new teams. I think the biggest obstacle to being present is distraction and for me, my phone had become a big source of distraction. By fasting it for those three weeks I really learned that being present is something you have to be incredibly intentional about. We are constantly being bombarded with distractions and tempted to focus on both the past and the future. But it was in those three weeks, by removing this distraction, that I most deeply experienced the sweetness of living in the moment. Of truly understanding how precious and fleeting these moments are and that being able to appreciate them in real time is both extremely difficult and an incredible gift. 

Now that we are in our third country, Romania, we have reached the halfway point of the race. It’s so crazy to think about how this journey is flying by and it serves as a good reminder to hold onto the lessons I learned in Guatemala and be present in each and every moment. I know it will be over before I know it and I want to be able to look back and be able to say that I experienced this dream of mine to the fullest. It’s not always easy but I know that the Lord is doing so much in the present moment and I don’t want to miss a single second of it. I am so thankful for all that Guatemala was and the lessons and memories I still carry with me from it.

All my love,

B🤍