Really the most exciting thing happening around here is that the walls are going up at the hospital.  But they are not the walls that we intended to lay first.  They are the walls that God wants first…. and so we move forward.

We should have received a container full of plumbing supplies for a plumbing team to put in two weeks ago.  But the container was delayed by a red flag from the government and a strike by the drivers.  And so…. the team was here with no supplies.

Yet when God called us to build this hospital, we knew that the most important part would be the refuge it would provide and the opportunity it would be to be a light into the darkness.  Part of the hospital includes a prayer room.  The International House of Prayer (IHOP) has been a constant here over the years.  IHOP is located in Kansas City and is 24/7 prayer and intercession for the needs of the world.  We too believe that this is priority and a necessity to have as part of our ministry so it was included in the plans – in the front corner where it was accessible to all.

Where did we start building?  From the back forward which would mean that the prayer room would not be finished first.  Throughout this whole project though, God has constantly reminded us that we are nothing without Him.  That this is He who is going forward and that it is important to make Him a priority above all.  So when the container didn’t come, we took that as God asking us to move forward with the prayer room.  How quickly it can go up!

After the floor was poured we had our first night of worship there – under the open sky!  How beautiful to come together as a body of Christ and worship together. Priorities.  It’s easy to say that God is first in your life and the most important thing.  But putting God first in your life is another thing.  For me, when busyness surrounds me, I can easily find that I lose sight of my priorities …. Yet my faith is strengthened when God steps forward and says that He has it already figured out.

For me, coming to Guatemala and committing to be part of this was something bigger than just a decision.  It was putting God in front of any of my other desires that I had.  I gave up a job that I enjoyed, a school family that I cared for, I moved far from my physical family and my church family.  I gave up friends and comforts and opportunities.  Yet the choice was one of priotities…. To listen to what God was asking or to listen to me.

As I have lived out life here and watched this come together, God has made His priorities clear and it gives me confidence and peace that He is in the driver’s seat. The walls of the prayer room remind me once again that we can lay the plans in our head, but God will lay the plans out in front of us.  We walk forward in faith knowing that God is laying the blocks that He needs to reap the harvest.

Our first of many worship sets in this room.

Looking down the front corridor.

Duane working at night to perfect the floor.