Hey Mission Family, its Melody here. I am writing to you today because I want to share with you a part of my story from Nicaragua this past summer. I want to share my story with you for a couple reasons, one because I believe that when God has worked in our lives we are meant to share with others. So that through sharing we can Praise and Glorify Him together. And second, to thank you, our Fox River Missions family for your continual support of the mission in Nicaragua. Without you, we wouldn't be able to take the trips that we do. Without you, we wouldn't be able to partner with the church in La Esmeralda. You are a part of my story, and you are a part of the story in Nicaragua. So thank you for all you do in supporting Fox River Missions.
This summer I had the opportunity to head to Nicaragua as a leader of the High School trip. As a leader I was planning on helping the students experience God and what he had in store for them, little did I know that I was going to experience that, and so much more.
Being candid, this was not my first trip, or my second. I am what some may call a "Nicaragua veteran". I have been blessed to go on our summer trip for many years now, and it is so easy to fall into the trap that there is nothing else that God could show me. It is so easy to fall into that trap in everyday life when we are use to a routine. But what I know about our God is that he always shows up, I know this and I believe this because he has never failed to show up for me. And he showed up in my life in an unmistakable way this past summer.
I have witnessed that God meets people where they are, and that week in Nicaragua God met with me exactly where I was. To be very specific, I was on a bus. We travel by bus from place to place on the trips, and almost everyday required us to get on that bus. Everyday as I would be sitting on that bus, God would bring a song to my mind. A song that had been on my heart for weeks prior to the trip, but I thought that it was just because I enjoyed the song. I didn't know that God was planning to use it to do so much more. The song goes a little bit like this...
I will sing of all You've done
I'll remember how far You carried me
From beginning until the end
You are faithful, faithful to the end.
Every single time I would get on the bus this song would come to my heart and my mind and I would sing it. And when it was finished I could hear God say so clearly to me, "Melody, I am faithful, when are you going to be?" Next day comes...I try and ignore that feeling in my gut, you know the one...of conviction. I get on the bus, sit down and we start rolling. Again same song, and again you know exactly what I hear. "Melody, I am faithful, when are you going to be?"
I am one of those people who needs repetition, but it didn't matter how many times God spoke to me, I knew exactly what he was talking about the first time I heard him. I usually do, and I knew that it was time to be faithful to what God has been asking of me. That moment, this week, was a pivotal point in my life. Not because it was something that was new that I learned, but because I had been putting being faithful on hold in my life. I was giving God every part of my life except one, the one part that I wanted to keep control of for myself. God was asking me to faithful with all of it, every single part.
At the end of week, we have an opportunity to share how God worked in our lives throughout the trip. And I knew exactly what I was going to share. So I got up to my feet, in front of most of my family, my closest friends, and my church and made a commitment to God. That it was time for me to be faithful, that I was going to give up my entire life into his control. There is freedom in surrender. There is freedom in being faithful.
I wonder if there is anyone reading this that growing weary on the path God has them on, or is hesitating to take their next step for God, or wherever you may find your life. I want to encourage you, the way that I was encouraged being in Nicaragua that week. I want to leave you my family with these words...even a promise.
God is and always has been faithful! From being to the end!
“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endured through all generations, The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”
Psalms 145:13