The Sounds of My Day

My days are starting to sound familiar to me.  Different from a lot of you, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share the sounds of my day.

I wake up in the morning to a buzzing sound. It only lasts a couple of seconds before it turns off again, then it starts again.  What is this sound?  It's my husband's cell phone.  Who is calling so early in the morning?  It could be a pastor, a friend, or family member.  This morning, it was a family member who wanted to borrow the drill.

Then, whenever the phone is silent again, we hear the roosters (they keep crowing all day long), and then our cat.  Meowing.  Begging us to let her in so she can have some food and cuddle time before it's light outside and the dogs get fed.  We let her in and quickly become annoyed with her trying to get our attention and we know that it is time to get up.

The voices from next door start rising as the morning goes on.  We hear the guitar's "Jing, jing, jing" and the voice of Daniel singing whatever song he is working on perfecting.  Lately, it's been "Allelujah".  We hear someone walk towards the house and the sound of "M'vin achte" (I've come to buy) followed by the response coming from the inside of Al's parents house saying "Sa ou vle" (What did you want).

The conversation voices continue along with new sounds.  The sounds of people working.  Construction of some kind happening in the area.  The mixing of cement, the pounding of nails.  The ladies laughing while they are doing laundry with the squishing of soap suds and water and cloth.  Then, the sound of cooking comes.  The pounding of spices, boiling water, frying foods in oil.

There's the random Mack truck that comes rolling by, the motorcycle with speakers that play music much louder than it's engine, and the ice cream truck.  I hear people calling out for each other or calling out greetings. The knocks on metal doors and horns honking in the distance.

As the day comes to a close, the work sounds die down, as does the conversation and the visiting friends stop coming.  The neighbor kids may decide it is a great time to come visit me though.  They knock at the door to my house and yell "Pa gen moun?" (which is the equivalent of "Anyone home?").  They come in and watch whatever it is that I am doing and, of course, ask for candy.

Finally, at the end of the day, I either hear silence and the quiet whirring of the fan above our bed, or I hear our generator faithfully giving us light until it's time to sleep.

My day is full of noises.  There are noises at night too...but maybe that's for another day!  :)

Realization: Things will (and must) change.

For those of you who are friends with me on facebook--or hear the news from people who are, you already know that the past couple of days have found me incredibly ill.  I haven't been able to get even much liquid down--much less food, but God is faithful and has been showing me, in a variety of ways, that things will change in the coming months and years.

For example, while I have been unable to do much of anything, my wonderful husband along with some great staff has been able to host a team of 50+ people who are doing some amazing ministry.  If you have a couple of minutes check out what they have been doing by clicking Here for Living Faith Fellowship and Here for First Baptist Church of Terry.  It's interesting that I haven't been able to be a part of this trip, up to this point, and that is incredibly difficult for me.  Why?  I really do love what we do and love to see lives changed--because so many lives are changed.  I know, though, that in the coming months, things must change and I am getting a taste of that now...

So, what have I been doing today?  For a long time, I stared at a calendar and scheduled events I knew were going to take place such as trips for the summer, meetings in the states, and places we need to visit for setting up trips.  Most of that ends in mid-August. I stared at the months that follow and noticed that very little was scheduled.  Birthdays, weddings, and Christmas were all there, but I realized that things will change.  Things must change.  I decided to keep looking ahead to the next year which is currently blank and I wondered what that year will look like.

I simply don't know.  God does.  And He will continue to guide our steps through the coming months and years. I know things must change and have realized that even this week is different than I would have expected.  God knows what He is doing and I know that I will continue to trust in Him.  While the ministry that is going on around me is glorifying to Him, so is my realization of this truth:  Things will change, but God remains the same.