Ecuador. Each of our basic needs are met.
Roof over our head
(albeit made of metal and an oven in heat and impossibly loud during frequent rain)
Running water
(albeit always cold, often arriving to the faucet the color of iced tea or turned off, without warning, by authorities for repairs or to regulate usage)
Food in our bellies
(albeit the change of diet and introduction of parasites and new bugs keeps us running to the bathroom and googling all kinds of weird symptoms)
A loving family
(albeit life has become much closer as we work together, learn together in homeschool, and our walls are very thin and completely worthless for sound privacy)
Maybe you already see where we are going with this. God has blessed us greatly but somehow our environment and it's challenges make perfect way towards parentheses explaining away God's provision and giving way to grumbling.
We've been studying Paul's life and how he said, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11-13
So, we've been asking the Lord to reveal to us his many gifts. Each morning we pray together thanking the Lord for rain, for brown water, for vegetables to treat for parasites and amoebas. Setting our minds on things above is a legitimate challenge but it is the only way to walk in joy and hope in a broken and hurting world.
Will you pray with us? For strength. For self-discipline to live thankful lives. For our home to be a home of voices rejoicing? (even if our rejoicing cannot be heard over the sound of the heavy rain pounding on our metal roof!)
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