Fresh Perspective

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By Sammy Mathews, Back2Back Monterrey, Mexico Field Staff

Serving as a caregiver to 10 hurting and broken boys at a children’s home in Mexico is hard. There are days when it feels like everything is chaos and nothing turns out right. Just this week, one of the children stayed home from school with a stomach bug. One dumped a whole trash can on a freshly mopped floor and another threw a shoe at me. Most days, we’re a mess.

Recently I’ve been struggling to accept the fact that on this side of heaven, sometimes things are just going to be a mess. I’ve been feeling really frustrated by it.

What I’ve forgotten recently is that God is still God even when, from my perspective, everything is a disaster. I have desperately needed a new perspective. I’ve needed, like it says in Romans 12:2, to be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

A friend recently shared with me Habakkuk 3:16-19 and I’ve decided to make it part of my new perspective. I want to renew and train my mind to recognize and remember that God is my strength and God is good. I have a reason to be joyful, always.

Habakkuk 3:16-19

Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
    to come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

So, here we go. I’m going to begin renewing my mind and renewing my perspective, sharing the joy and the peace God has been showing me amongst the chaos.

Sammy Mathews has been on staff with Back2Back Ministries for three years. She is currently a full-time caregiver to 10 wild and crazy boys at Casa Hogar Douglas in Monterrey, Mexico.