Night Lights Come Morning

 

Night Lights—Come Morning

Theology in the Trenches

By Kathleen Kjolhaug

 

Twas early…well before dawn this final day of our outreach trip to San Andreas, Guatemala. Just who was serving whom was hard to distinguish as a three-chord strand (the children, the volunteers and the One directing our paths) will forever be bound as one, “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

 

As I sat upon the veranda looking out over the mountains, the hour of departure was nearing. Off in the distance, lights shone as one vehicle wound its way down from on high upon the mountain road. My eyes followed while roosters crowed welcoming the day.

 

Along with the vehicle descending, the fog did likewise. Where the car was headed— who knew but its beams were a sign of its presence. Lights appeared as a guide when all else brought darkness.

 

Light always helps stave off the dark along life’s journey. Staying close to home—His heart—is what helps when the fog rolls in threatening to obscure all that surrounds. You see, we need not see—but rather, we need merely walk in the Light along the journey He calls us to this side of the veil. Lifting the veil enough for us to see Light—His guidance—is gift enough.

 

Obedience is our business, while the fruit all His

has become a theme each time I visit Hogar de Vida.

 

While it was still dark, we loaded our bags into the van and left Hogar de Vida. Like the vehicle I’d observed while sitting on the veranda, we descended down the mountain as our lights shone and even more so, His Light within.

 

At the close of our journey, I was reminded of yet another moment in time described in Mark 1:35. “Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went out to an isolated place to pray.”

 

In the beginning, through prayer, our team left our homes in the states to come to an isolated place in order to serve. Now, in prayer, we leave Hogar de Vida which is set aside upon the side of a mountain. Though the journey has come to an end, the truth is, it’s just the beginning.

 

Two nurses within our group are now praying for doors to open for future outreach. Our team carpenter and a massage therapist have forever touched lives and will now pour out by connecting their world back home with what they’ve experienced here at Hogar de Vida. Along on this journey was one childcare provider whose tears brought joy in what God has planned for her once she returns. One of the two reading specialists now specializes in reading the hearts she serves as leader of teams—while the other—well—you are reading what’s on her heart as she shares what she learned along the way. There were others who joined this group who were present through donations, prayers, and supplies. They carried us and touched the lives of the children.

 

I pray that if you are nudged, one day,  to go to a quiet place— please do because

obedience is our business while the fruit all His.

 

Isaiah 43:19 sheds Light. “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”  Amen.

 

 

Thank you, Tim and Dena Stromstad (originally from the Fertile-Beltrami area in northern Minnesota). Thank you for raising up generations as unto the Lord. If anyone would like to know more about their work or how you, too, may be a part of it, please visit homesoflife.org or search Homes of Life, Guatemala in your search engine. Or, you may also contact me at wemenews@gmail.com