“Beauty in the broken”
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit” -Psalm 34:18 NIV
Chowan University Mission Trip in Johannesburg, ZA
Reflection by: Ammaris Jordan
It has been days since my time spent in in Johannesburg with Door of Hope Ministry, and even now I still feel as if my time there was not only to assist a ministry that is focused on building the lives of the broken; I also believe that my time there was to mend some broken areas in my heart and life as well. Each day on the mission field was completely different and I found myself not only learning about needs of others on the trip, but also learning about myself. Learning that it is okay to not know what will happen next in my life, learning that it is definitely okay to be afraid of the unknown and yet have peace at the same time.
I believe that the most important element that I gained from this experience was being able to see beauty in things that seem broken, in the spiritual and natural connotation. Spiritually, I felt as if God was showing me that regardless of the hardships and broken places of my life, I should be able to see that there is beauty in the midst of it. In the natural, I took an example of beauty in brokenness as our team worked on making the cinder blocks for the foundation of a home that will be on the ministry’s property.
The vision of the ministry is to build a village of hope that will house abandoned children and provide them with a sense of family and constant growth. We constructed 880 cinder blocks and although the majority of them turned out well, there were a few that came out broken. Even as the broken blocks came out, we were told that those blocks would still be used in some aspect to build the house. I found that to be very profound because, it allowed for me to see that even things that seem broken and look as if they have no purpose are still good enough to be used in some way.
It all depends upon perspective.
I appreciate Door of Hope because I realize that it takes a step of faith to start a ministry and especially starting a ministry the addresses a serious need within a community. Door of Hope is doing that as they strive to build a community that not only rescues children that are abandoned, but also provides a nurturing and loving environment for the children to grow up in. I find my experience to be extremely humbling because even as we served there for the short time that we did, the staff of Door of Hope treated us with the sincerest kindness and generosity possible.
And even now that we are back home in the States, it brings me great joy to know that a piece of Chowan will forever be in South Africa.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit” -Psalm 34:18 NIV
Chowan University Mission Trip in Johannesburg, ZA
Reflection by: Ammaris Jordan
It has been days since my time spent in in Johannesburg with Door of Hope Ministry, and even now I still feel as if my time there was not only to assist a ministry that is focused on building the lives of the broken; I also believe that my time there was to mend some broken areas in my heart and life as well. Each day on the mission field was completely different and I found myself not only learning about needs of others on the trip, but also learning about myself. Learning that it is okay to not know what will happen next in my life, learning that it is definitely okay to be afraid of the unknown and yet have peace at the same time.
I believe that the most important element that I gained from this experience was being able to see beauty in things that seem broken, in the spiritual and natural connotation. Spiritually, I felt as if God was showing me that regardless of the hardships and broken places of my life, I should be able to see that there is beauty in the midst of it. In the natural, I took an example of beauty in brokenness as our team worked on making the cinder blocks for the foundation of a home that will be on the ministry’s property.
The vision of the ministry is to build a village of hope that will house abandoned children and provide them with a sense of family and constant growth. We constructed 880 cinder blocks and although the majority of them turned out well, there were a few that came out broken. Even as the broken blocks came out, we were told that those blocks would still be used in some aspect to build the house. I found that to be very profound because, it allowed for me to see that even things that seem broken and look as if they have no purpose are still good enough to be used in some way.
It all depends upon perspective.
I appreciate Door of Hope because I realize that it takes a step of faith to start a ministry and especially starting a ministry the addresses a serious need within a community. Door of Hope is doing that as they strive to build a community that not only rescues children that are abandoned, but also provides a nurturing and loving environment for the children to grow up in. I find my experience to be extremely humbling because even as we served there for the short time that we did, the staff of Door of Hope treated us with the sincerest kindness and generosity possible.
And even now that we are back home in the States, it brings me great joy to know that a piece of Chowan will forever be in South Africa.