Saturday, May 11, 2013

Walls in the journey.


I’ve been sitting at my computer for the past hour staring at this screen.

I’ve started this blog many times and have erased everything I’ve written so far. I’ve invited you to be a part of this journey with me, and to be faithful to that- I need to invite you into what is happening right now in Pattaya. But I’m not sure how to do that. I’ve hit a wall. 

God has been teaching me about walls lately. We all are on a journey and we all hit walls sometimes. Sometimes they are just minor inconveniences, and sometimes they are so massive, they seem to bring life to a complete halt.

There is a wall currently here in Pattaya, and I need share it with you.

If I was able to share with you, you will remember that part of my job has been to help Freedom Stones decide the future of the jewelry project. Through my research, opportunities explored, and input, the board of Freedom Stones has decided to close the project in Pattaya and focus solely on the site in Cambodia. So I have come back to Thailand for my last three months to help the artisan’s transition to their next steps and essentially close this site.

There have been many moments of feeling like I’m staring at a wall lately. And at the wall, many questions come:
What will the artisans do next? Will this affect their faith and trust in God’s goodness and provision?
Could I have done more? Have I failed in coming here?
What happens next for all of us?

I listened to a sermon on the walls in our journey lately, and they listed the three options we have at the wall. We can stop in fear and paralysis, we can lose hope and give up, or we can walk forward in trusting faith. The man speaking said “God’s will is for us to journey through the wall as we trust and follow Him together. We walk forward knowing He gives us victory in the end.”

So I don’t have answers to all the questions in my mind. I don’t’ have certainty about what is next, but I do continue to ask God for trusting faith….not only for myself but also for the artisans and everyone else in this journey. I ask for it for everyone who reads this.

I told you before I need you with me in this journey, and I want you to know I still do. I have a lot of questions, but I also trust that I serve a God who is in control and gives me victory. Please pray with me.  Pray with me for the artisans as they stand at the wall of uncertainty.  Pray for this wall: for the trusting faith that God is in control and is working even in situations such as these.


I also pray that in whatever wall you are currently looking at or will look at eventually- whether big or small, something difficult or maybe just uncertain- that God gives you trusting faith to continue walking forward. In Him, through His cross, we already have victory and that is the promise that never leaves regardless of what wall we face. 

2 comments:

  1. Dear Kelly, This must be the biggest struggle you have had there. We are praying for you and those people every day! Are there any church missionary's in the area that can at least pray "with" these people now and after you leave? I wish we could do more from here, I feel very helpless but I know God is not helpless and His Will will be done, put your faith in that. You have done all you can but He will be there after you leave.
    In Christian love, Bob Lang

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  2. Kelly,
    I've been praying for you every day and the "what's next." I also pray for your community there. I know that sometimes it's easy to say "what else could I have done?" God put you there for a reason. He is using you even if at times you may not see how.

    I love you and am thinking of you.

    Dana Perich

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