these precious little hands

what I do around here can be summed up in 2 words "little hands."

those hands are numerous.

they could be the hands of the precious girls i nanny for, the hands of the adorable children i see, clean and hold in the preschool i help out at here on the base or the hands i played with at Zone Kids* which is a ministry to the kids in the red light district in Tijuana.

awwww, so cute, right?

yeah, these kids are pretty cute and i keep reminding myself of the awesome privilege i have to love on all these children.

but then there are "those" days. we all know those days right? the days where runny noses are plentiful, where obeying is a struggle, where you don't understand enough spanish to "get by," where your expectations get in the way and where God breaks your heart and you don't know what to do with your own brokenness.

so here i am.

and God knows. and that's the beauty of it.

He knows.

the other night, some of the dts students and i went to hear dan baumann speak (he's an amazing man, used of God - his story). his story is amazing. i was blown away by the goodness of God, the love of God and His amazing plan for our lives. oh friends, God is good. God knows. He does.

He knew this week would break me. He knew i needed to be reminded of Truth. and so before the week began, He encouraged me through this man. God loves me. God has an amazing plan for my life. and this, this season here in Mexico as nanny-jodi, is a part of His story for me and His story for this precious family i'm serving here.


remember those days? yeah. those days where your expectations ruin everything because your day didn't go according to your plan?

today was that day. eh, let me rephrase that: this week didn't go according to "my plan."

expectations are odd things. we create in our minds what we think should happen before we have begun that said thing and then when things don't go as we think we get frustrated because we think we are in control.

remember the goodness of God? remember, He knows best.

anyways, i came to Mexico and i had expectations. i thought i knew what to do and how to nanny and i thought i knew it all. i thought i knew best.


i don't.

tonight i was reminded of this Truth (that God knows best) thru a speaker who shared during our weekly worship time. he talked about namaan in the Bible. in 2 kings 5, we read about this commander who had leprosy. this man heard about Elisha, the man of God who could heal him. so Namaan went to Elisha. and Elisha sent his servant out to meet Namaan and the servant told the commander to go wash in the Jordan river.

Namaan went away sad and upset because not only did he not talk to the prophet, but he was told to wash in that dirty Jordan river. Namaan knew of better, cleaner and closer rivers to wash in. why would he go there?

Namaan had expectaitons. he thought the prophet would honor hims by talking to him face-to-face. he thought the prophet would honor him by waving his hand over his leprosy and he would be healed. he thought the prophet would honor him by telling him to wash in a cleaner river. he thought. he thought. he thought.

just like i think. i think i know best. i think i deserve the best. i think i deserve honor. i think.  i think. i think.

but God knows best.

and spoiler: Namaan does go into the Jordan River and he washes himself there. and not once. not twice. but seven times. and he is healed.

God knows.

He has plans for us, good plans.

God is working in us and He will finish it.

Allow Him to break your expectations. Trust in His plan even if it is a crazy as washing yourself seven times in a dirty River. Trust Him. He knows best.

*let me tell you about Zone Kids! this ministry is amazing! and again, God's ways are beyond our comprehension. He allowed me to meet the leaders of this ministry thru the girls i nanny before i was even invited to go along! God is good!

While the girls played with the children of the leaders of Zone Kids, i was able to hear about their heart for these kids in the red light district and how the ministry was started. God orchestrated this couples meeting and their hearts for these kids. and through prayers and discerning God's will, they started this ministry, kinda like weekly vbs, for these kids a few years ago. and it has grown to include their moms!

so every Tuesday at 2:30, the zone kids team meets for prayer and preparations. and then they head off to the heart of Tijuana. When they arrive they set up games and toys for the kids who are between toddlers and middle schoolers. They kids play for about 45 minutes and then the younger kids go to a lesson and craft while the older kids can either learn guitar or photography! And while the kids are playing and learning, the moms are fellowshipping over cups of coffee, encouraging each other and learning about Jesus too!

all this is done at a local park in downtown Tijuana but the leaders informed me that they just were able to purchase property so their presence there can be more consistent!

i am so excited to become more involved with this amazing ministry every Tuesday while i'm here!