A Grateful Heart

Con mucho felicidad, después de nuestro concurso de talentos, hemos cantado la nuestra canción favorita “Let Us Adore” con nuestros nuevos amigos que participan al programa Global Bridge por nueve meses en Guatemala.

Trying to speak Spanish eats up a big part of our days but we eat so well that we have not lost any weight yet! As I wrote above, we had an amazing time two nights ago with the students from the Global Bridge program, a nine month missionary and study abroad program with a language learning component (www.globalbridgeprogram.com/global-bridge). We exchanged quite a few laughs and cheers as some of us heroically jumped in the middle of the circle to show their stunning – and weird – talents. To cap off the evening we gathered around the other team and we sang “Let Us Adore,” our LIFT theme song. The whole experience reminded us of the uniqueness and the blessing of Christian fellowship and being able to share with one another the gifts that God has individually given us.

And God has indeed blessed us with so much! We LIFTers are starting to see that having less does not affect our capacity to be thankful to God. Material possessions do not determine the state of our hearts. In fact, some of the people we meet during the day are literally “dirt poor” yet their heart is a harvest of gladness. A lady I visited lives in a house made out of sheet metal with no floor but the dirt soil, and leading up to the entrance the ground is littered with garbage. As she shared with us her story, nothing but gratefulness to God for his provision and blessing was coming out of her mouth: “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5).” We get to see amazing smiles on the faces of people with amazing stories of how God has rescued them out of the dominion of darkness and brought them into the kingdom of light. They testify to the most important transaction that happened in their lives was their salvation. Money matters but it matters less when Christ owns our hearts.

We hope that in these next nine days we will learn more about being rich at heart: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” says the Lord (Matthew 6:21). Where is your treasure?

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1)

-Philippe Blais