delight

The other night me and some friends went to tapas. Pilar was asking what my parents jobs were. I told them my dad was a pastor. Noemi said, "yeah but molly tell them about your church back home and what it is like!" This one time I showed her and my other roommates the dvd of the christmas dinner at Hope. There was a fashion show, a hair show, fun music and about 1000 people. They were shocked that was even a church. So I atempted to explain Hope to them. But then they all started discussing the church. Some said the church just wants power and others said yeah but some churches "like send missionaries to Africa to help the poor kids and stuff." Others said well I believe in God but I don't go. Noemi said, "well molly I dont believe in God but I think I'd like your church in Memphis"

I have a verse written on an index card sitting on my desk and Flora saw it and asked what it said, so I translated this verse for her: "I delight greatly in the lord, my soul rejoices in my God for he has clothed me with garments of slavation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness... and "for the Lord will take delight in you, your god will rejoice over you" I told her I keep it out because it reminds me of who I am in Christ and how much God loves me. She just looked at me and smiled for a minute and said, "well I am going to go put on a robe of studying." And I said, "haha but Flora righteousness is so much more fun than studying!"

Last night at the beach my friend, Canario asked me to tell him about my religion. So I shared in broken Spanish about God's love and Jesus' sacrifice. I don't know what he was thinking except how strange he thought it was that I actually read the bible. I asked him to tell me about what he believes. All he said was, "Spain pretends to like religion, we have all the crosses and statues of Mary, but really... Spain loves alcohol and Spain loves the party so we have all these religious holidays, but molly, no one really believes it..."

I've been reflecting on these past three months. I have come to Spain because I felt God leading me here. I got here with no language or understanding of this culture. And God has put me in this very specific apartment and into very specific lives. I have been embraced here. These people shock me because they don't know Christ in a personal way and at the same time every time I am with them I experience God's love in such real ways through them. I think about myself in my groups of friends and how quick I have been to exculde others that don't fit in. And here are these people who I don't fit in with yet they've included me (this random American girl with broken spanish) and have treated me like I am one of them. When I am with them I feel adored, interested in and delighted in... for NO reason. I barely even have their language. A lot of times I just sit there and smile when they are all talking at once and I don't understand what they are saying and can't contribute anything to the conversation. Yet I am always invited and always wanted. These people have pointed me to the heart of God in the way he adores me and finds delight in me, the way he embraces me and invites me... not for anything I offer or anything I've done, just because He wants me with him. I want to turn around and somehow embrace others in that same way.