It's Monday, which means "The Update Series" is in full-swing! And today, the update is about orphanage ministry.
After a couple years of praying about serving at an orphanage, we started to wonder if it was really the Lord's will for us to be doing orphanage ministry. As you might have read a couple months ago, we were really excited to begin doing a cooking class at a local orphanage. But, we spoke ahead of the Lord, and that class totally fell through for a period of time.
We were really disappointed. And truthfully, I was embarrassed. I had spoken about it like it was a done deal, only to discover a few days later that it wasn't going to happen. It was a huge bummer, but also a huge learning experience for me.
The lesson was this: sometimes, God brings us to a point where He asks us to wait on Him, and sometimes that waiting is meant to last for a long time. But, we often wait and we pray, and eventually, we decide we've waiting long enough, and we go ahead with what we think should happen (This lesson reminds me a lot of Abraham). It's a hard lesson to learn - for sure, but I think I can really say now that I understand - when the Lord says wait, simply wait, and don't do anything until He says what comes next.
Because really, the Lord's ways aren't our ways, so when He says wait, we should definitely wait until we hear otherwise.
So, after that one blog post about how excited I was to start the cooking class, I felt really humbled by the Lord, and I have to admit, I felt bummed out too.
I brought it to the Lord a lot, wondering why it hadn't happened after I felt like I had heard Him so clearly. And I also kept asking God if I was even called to do orphanage ministry, and if maybe the cooking class falling through was His way of showing me that a door had been closed - and I was trying to pry that door open on my own.
Since we moved to Donetsk, we have been regularly teaching at an English school, which is run at an orphanage. Sometimes this causes a little confusion, so let me explain. This particular orphanage that we've connected with is a privately owned Christian orphanage, which means they have to raise their own money to keep their doors open. The director came up with an idea last summer to open an English school at the orphanage for people living in the community (non-orphans), to have English teachers volunteer their time to teach, and to have the people coming for classes pay for classes, with the end result being all of the proceeds going directly to the orphanage and the needs of the kids.
Byron and I think this is an awesome idea, and after praying about it, we felt like God wanted us to support this orphanage and be volunteer teachers for them. We've been going there every Friday and Saturday to teach English and help raise money for them for the last four months. But, even though we've been going to the orphanage every week, we hadn't been permitted to see the orphans every week. So, even through the cooking class didn't work out for a time, we were still going to the orphanage weekly, just without seeing the kids.
After the cooking class didn't happened, I wondered if maybe teaching at the English school wasn't the best use of our time, but Byron really encouraged me to stop thinking that way and to really dig into the Word and see what God's heart is for helping the poor and orphaned. As I continued to pray and seek the Lord, I realized that my heart needed to change and that I needed to be willing to serve the orphans, even if that meant I didn't get to actually spend any time with any of them.
But while I was struggling and trying to get my heart in order, God never stopped working. Two weeks ago, I finally saw what the Lord had been doing behind the scenes, and I also finally heard Him tell me that the period of "waiting" was truly over.
I had decided to email one of the directors about the cooking class to see wanted us to try and do it, and she responded with "of course!" We were so excited! Two Fridays ago, we had our first official cooking class.
It was an awesome time just hanging out with the kids and playing with them. We made sugar cookies and frosted them with different colored frostings. We also brought two chef hats with us for the class, and the kids took turns wearing them and cutting cookies out with the cookie cutters.
All in all, we had around ten kids at the cooking class, and it was seriously one of the best days of my life. I'm not sure if I can think of many other ministry moments that filled my heart with joy as much as that cooking class did. It was just so awesome getting to hang out with those precious kids and love them in Jesus' name. And seriously, nothing melts my heart quite as much as hearing a little Ukrainian girl or boy pronounce my name with their cute accents :)
We didn't have any life changing conversations with the kids. We weren't able to communicate with them much past "what's your favorite color?" and "how old are you?". But, we were definitely able to take the first step in building relationships with these kids.
And, after the class finished, we were invited to hang out with the kids on a regular basis - 1-2 hours every Friday! How awesome is that?!
So, last Friday, we spent time with the kids again. However, we didn't have enough time to cook with the kids, but we were able to play Dutch Blitz and Uno with them. It was so much fun, and the kids seemed to really love it. There were probably 20 kids with us this time. All of the boys played Uno with Byron, and almost all of the girls played Dutch Blitz with me. The best part for me was that as the game went on, the little kids would start scooting closer and closer to me, and as they would inch closer, they would kind of look up to check and see if I was going to get upset at them for scooting closer. It was really emotional for me in a lot of ways because it made me remember how often my mom and dad cuddled me when I was a kid, and I realized that these little girls and boys probably rarely, if ever, get the kind of hugs that I was blessed to have when I was growing up.
The more time I'm blessed to spend with these sweet kids, the more I love them, and then more I am blessed. Now that I can look back at the last four months, I can see how I thought I knew what God was doing, and I thought I knew God's timing, but in actuality, I didn't. And I caused myself frustration and heartache because I was refusing to wait on the Lord. But, I am so thankful that God's mercies are new and fresh each day, and that even though I stepped out in front of the Lord, He never stopped loving me, and He continued to work everything together for His glory and my edification.
The Lord is great, and worthy to be praised!
Blessings,
Emily
P.S. The next update will be coming from Byron on Thursday :)
After a couple years of praying about serving at an orphanage, we started to wonder if it was really the Lord's will for us to be doing orphanage ministry. As you might have read a couple months ago, we were really excited to begin doing a cooking class at a local orphanage. But, we spoke ahead of the Lord, and that class totally fell through for a period of time.
We were really disappointed. And truthfully, I was embarrassed. I had spoken about it like it was a done deal, only to discover a few days later that it wasn't going to happen. It was a huge bummer, but also a huge learning experience for me.
The lesson was this: sometimes, God brings us to a point where He asks us to wait on Him, and sometimes that waiting is meant to last for a long time. But, we often wait and we pray, and eventually, we decide we've waiting long enough, and we go ahead with what we think should happen (This lesson reminds me a lot of Abraham). It's a hard lesson to learn - for sure, but I think I can really say now that I understand - when the Lord says wait, simply wait, and don't do anything until He says what comes next.
Because really, the Lord's ways aren't our ways, so when He says wait, we should definitely wait until we hear otherwise.
So, after that one blog post about how excited I was to start the cooking class, I felt really humbled by the Lord, and I have to admit, I felt bummed out too.
I brought it to the Lord a lot, wondering why it hadn't happened after I felt like I had heard Him so clearly. And I also kept asking God if I was even called to do orphanage ministry, and if maybe the cooking class falling through was His way of showing me that a door had been closed - and I was trying to pry that door open on my own.
Since we moved to Donetsk, we have been regularly teaching at an English school, which is run at an orphanage. Sometimes this causes a little confusion, so let me explain. This particular orphanage that we've connected with is a privately owned Christian orphanage, which means they have to raise their own money to keep their doors open. The director came up with an idea last summer to open an English school at the orphanage for people living in the community (non-orphans), to have English teachers volunteer their time to teach, and to have the people coming for classes pay for classes, with the end result being all of the proceeds going directly to the orphanage and the needs of the kids.
Byron and I think this is an awesome idea, and after praying about it, we felt like God wanted us to support this orphanage and be volunteer teachers for them. We've been going there every Friday and Saturday to teach English and help raise money for them for the last four months. But, even though we've been going to the orphanage every week, we hadn't been permitted to see the orphans every week. So, even through the cooking class didn't work out for a time, we were still going to the orphanage weekly, just without seeing the kids.
After the cooking class didn't happened, I wondered if maybe teaching at the English school wasn't the best use of our time, but Byron really encouraged me to stop thinking that way and to really dig into the Word and see what God's heart is for helping the poor and orphaned. As I continued to pray and seek the Lord, I realized that my heart needed to change and that I needed to be willing to serve the orphans, even if that meant I didn't get to actually spend any time with any of them.
I had decided to email one of the directors about the cooking class to see wanted us to try and do it, and she responded with "of course!" We were so excited! Two Fridays ago, we had our first official cooking class.
It was an awesome time just hanging out with the kids and playing with them. We made sugar cookies and frosted them with different colored frostings. We also brought two chef hats with us for the class, and the kids took turns wearing them and cutting cookies out with the cookie cutters.
All in all, we had around ten kids at the cooking class, and it was seriously one of the best days of my life. I'm not sure if I can think of many other ministry moments that filled my heart with joy as much as that cooking class did. It was just so awesome getting to hang out with those precious kids and love them in Jesus' name. And seriously, nothing melts my heart quite as much as hearing a little Ukrainian girl or boy pronounce my name with their cute accents :)
We didn't have any life changing conversations with the kids. We weren't able to communicate with them much past "what's your favorite color?" and "how old are you?". But, we were definitely able to take the first step in building relationships with these kids.
And, after the class finished, we were invited to hang out with the kids on a regular basis - 1-2 hours every Friday! How awesome is that?!
So, last Friday, we spent time with the kids again. However, we didn't have enough time to cook with the kids, but we were able to play Dutch Blitz and Uno with them. It was so much fun, and the kids seemed to really love it. There were probably 20 kids with us this time. All of the boys played Uno with Byron, and almost all of the girls played Dutch Blitz with me. The best part for me was that as the game went on, the little kids would start scooting closer and closer to me, and as they would inch closer, they would kind of look up to check and see if I was going to get upset at them for scooting closer. It was really emotional for me in a lot of ways because it made me remember how often my mom and dad cuddled me when I was a kid, and I realized that these little girls and boys probably rarely, if ever, get the kind of hugs that I was blessed to have when I was growing up.
The more time I'm blessed to spend with these sweet kids, the more I love them, and then more I am blessed. Now that I can look back at the last four months, I can see how I thought I knew what God was doing, and I thought I knew God's timing, but in actuality, I didn't. And I caused myself frustration and heartache because I was refusing to wait on the Lord. But, I am so thankful that God's mercies are new and fresh each day, and that even though I stepped out in front of the Lord, He never stopped loving me, and He continued to work everything together for His glory and my edification.The Lord is great, and worthy to be praised!
Blessings,
Emily
P.S. The next update will be coming from Byron on Thursday :)
This is very encouraging. I am struggling with listening to God. I am not good with waiting. I am glad God is so patience and merciful. I am glad you are having fun helping the kids in the orphanage. Take care and God bless. Mike and Paula.
ReplyDelete@Michael - Sorry we didn't see this comment sooner! Thanks for commenting! We'll be praying that you start to hear the Lord more clearly in your life. We're always encouraged to remember that as we drawn near to Christ, He also draws near to us. God Bless you and Paula!
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