Heartstrings

I don’t know what to say. I’ve been home from Belize for nearly a month already, and I’ve yet to write much of anything publicly about it. Believe me – it’s not because I have nothing to say, but because my mind is still reeling and processing all that the Lord did while we were there and all that He continues to do.

That country and the people there have my heart. La gente de Belize son como nada del mundo….y tienen mi alma para siempre. I cannot sever my heart’s connections with the people of Belmopan, nor do I ever want to. I’ve been twice, and I have every intention of going as often as I am able. The Lord has made it abundantly clear that He has a place and a plan for me there, and I am not about to run from that.

I think that one of the most phenomenal things about our church’s connection with the church in Belize is the effect it is having and will continue to have on the children of our community. My daughter is two, and she already knows that there is a place called Belize that is important to Mommy. She knows that there are children in Belize who look different from her but who are not otherwise all that different from the way she is. She knows that Mommy goes there to tell the children of Belize about Jesus, and she knows the names of the kids she sees in my pictures. (She even pretends to call some of them on her little play phone.) She has met the pastor of our sister church in Belize, and she talks about him all the time.

My daughter is only two, but she is already beginning to grasp that the world is bigger than her own experience.

I cannot express how that touches my heart.

I don’t know how long I will feel called to Belize, nor do I know what role I will serve on subsequent trips. I know, though, that I will go, and I know that when I do, I will be no less in awe of my experience than I have been twice before.

Flying into Belize felt surprisingly like flying home….and the reason for that is simple. The Lord is here, but He is also there. He is working here, and He is working there. When people – regardless of how physically distant – are connected in the Lord’s name, one word to describe it is “home.” Wherever we go that we find those joined to us in the name of Jesus, we will be home.

Belize – for me – is home, and I’ll go as many times as He asks me to.