Lost in Translation

Well hello hello to whoever may be reading this! (This is Sarah Beth by the way.) Catherine typed a whole blog entry yesterday with pictures and everything but something happened and it all got deleted so be looking for that soon once she gets another chance to sit down and type it all up again! Let me just say blogging is a lot harder to keep up with than I thought!

I want to tell you guys all about what we have been doing recently but I can't help but share something God has SO evidently been teaching me since I've been here. It just took me until now to finally stop talking and listen up :)

Catherine and I do not speak spanish very well and are 100% the strange foreign exchange students that can only communicate with sentences a 6 year old would use, or just blankly stare at people when they start speaking too quickly and use words we don't know. Which happens very often! We are staying in a home with a mother and daughter, Ada and Anna, who are so sweet and have taken wonderful care of us. (cough cough...our barbie dream room!) We have gotten to know Anna who is 17 years old and have lunch with her everyday, gotten ice cream together, and just talked throughout the day when we are home. She is a little shy but its been fun to get to know her more as all of us become more comfortable around each other. The same goes with Ada the mom.

When I first decided to come to Spain, I had all these ideas and dreams of what spreading the gospel would look like and what work I could do for the Lord here. There was just one small detail I didn't think about...the communication barrier! Now even though I am halfway through my Communications degree at A&M, my Spanish 101 class can't really solve all my issues with this one. Yesterday it was like the Lord was speaking so clearly just saying "Sarah Beth...why have you ever thought that it would be your WORDS that can change someone's heart? I don't need you for anything but I want to use you, just not in the ways you originally thought. The Holy Spirit exists for this very reason." Ok, hello God! How cool is that?! Pumps me up just thinking about it...in fact I just started typing faster because it gets me so excited.

I love problem solving and fixing issues and just talking through things with people but in this situation I literally can't do any of this. What a humbling realization. Prayer is what these people need and all I can truly offer them. Even if I could tell them about the gospel, it still is the same idea. My words are worthless without the Holy Spirit. I have this study on 1 Corinthians that I honestly kept forgetting about so I brought it with me and now I know why God timed it like this so I would be doing this while I am in Spain. This is Paul's speaking and look at these verses and tell me God isn't trying to tell us something. :)

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." 1 Corinthians 1:17

Crystal clear? I think yes. Or how about this one...

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." 1 Corinthians  2:4-5

Wow. Hit that one out of the park there Paul.

Christ has this power, not me. My words will never be enough! If they were, then the "cross of Christ would be emptied of its power" and that is definitely something I don't want. Prayer is powerful and how often do we pray small prayers to a big God. One that literally can move MOUNTAINS and we pray for "a good day." Be bold today and don't ever think that you can't be used. Human words will never be enough and the power of prayer is real!

peas and blessings,
Sarah Beth