When a Wrecked Perspective Leads to Hope

Susan Stilwell recently joined our Wrecked Vision Trip to Guatemala.

Susan spends her mornings drinking coffee and watching the sun rise, and can be found on Twitter (@susanrstilwell) and on the web at SusanStilwell.com.

I applied for the Wrecked Vision Trip on a whim. I’d recently returned from a fruitful trip to Belize, but I knew the Lord wasn’t calling me to return. Instead, I found myself on a plane bound for Guatemala with 19 strangers.
 
With only Facebook and blog interaction, I didn’t really know the people filling the seats surrounding me. It didn’t matter. The Lord knew them and, for the next five days, he wove our hearts together.
 
Before long our entire group chatted like old friends at a reunion, never losing sight of the reason we were there: to have our comfortable lives wrecked.
 
My wrecking came in different forms:

• The pain of so much poverty and need, followed by the pleasure of distributing food and praying with a family.
• The frustration of a language barrier but the fun of learning a handful words and communicating with an abuela (grandmother).
• The sorrow for children abandoned by their families, but the joy of laughing and sharing an afternoon with orphans.

 
At first, I explained my wrecking in a tidy phrase: Feeling helpless but offering help.
 
It’s more than that. Much more.
 
Looking in my closet I’m embarrassed by all the clothes. Opening the newspaper I’m shocked at our societal obsessions. Walking into our church I’m saddened by our excess.
 
I’m not sure what to do with that. In fact, I’m not sure what to do with a lot of things now. 
 
But what I am sure of: even though my luggage is stowed away in my closet and the Guatemalan dust washed from my jeans, I know God wants to use me. I know there's hope.

The adventure continues.

Are you ready to offer help in your own helplessness?  Click here to learn more about how you can have your perspective wrecked on our next vision trip to the Dominican Republic.