This blog post will be a bit different since I haven’t posted in a while. Simply an update of what my life has looked like for the past couple months!!
On November 6th, my squad and I arrived in Romania. It’s been wild ever since. There have been hardships and moments of so much sweetness. The last thing I expected when landing here was how incredibly at home I would feel. There is so much brokenness in Craiova, Romania, and yet the fruit of the ministry here is so incredibly evident. Even the fruit that isn’t yet ripe.
There’s no way I could break down the past three months since my last blog post into one post now. However, reflection brought me to a few journal entries from the past months of the race that give a pretty good idea of the places I’ve been with the Lord lately, and a very minuscule piece of what the Lord has been walking me through, and challenging me with. Pieces of my heart that are unfiltered and raw.
October 14th
“The Lord has been teaching me what it looks like to pray in lament. I’m not in love with my circumstances. And the Lord is showing me that that is okay, because it is in this space, that I get to experience the fullness of the Father in the midst of sadness and discomfort or disappointment in what I expected the Race to be, both physically and mentally. Even when I miss small comforts I used to fill myself up with, instead of the Lord.
He assures me that I don’t need what He provided or even what I coped with then! Because He is providing here and now. Even though it looks different.”
November 9th
“Today is my first day of ministry. I’m not sure what to expect if I’m being completely honest. Which is normal I suppose. God, stay in my steps. I love you. Even if I don’t always feel it. Help me share that, please.
With love,
Your Landry”
November 17th
“Lord, I love getting to sit still with You in moments like these. The fact that You make every ground holy ground because You dwell within me. 1 Corinthians 6:19. What an honor it is to love You. What an honor it is to be called ‘part of a royal priesthood’ in Your name. What an honor it is to pour out all of the oil from my alabaster jar because You’re the One who makes me clean, the One who saves me.
It’s crazy to me that this is His love for me. He would go back for me, the 1 out of 99. He chases me down. Until I dwell with Him in heaven, I will be chased down by the King of kings. He does this for me to be a part of the greatest love. The fact that He wants to spend eternity with me so badly that He died so that I’d know He wanted me. He has taken the time to clean me and refine me and He will continue to do so for the rest of my life.”
November 25th (Thanksgiving)
“Your covenant is making me whole. Thank You for the gift of space I get to be lost in. Thank You for Your rest.
Unrelated: Romans 12:1-2.
Lord, challenge me to bring words that people say about me, straight to your feet. Whether good or bad, I want to only listen to what you say of me.
You are making me new. You make beautiful things of nothing but dust.”
December 9th
“You call me pure. I still don’t understand the gifts you so graciously give. It’s wild to me that I get the privilege of dining in celebration with my King over such gifts. I mean, you aren’t mad at me. You rejoice in the creation you have made, even in the midst of my mistakes. You just keep choosing me over and over and over.
I can see, Lord, that you are teaching me, slowly and steadily, what it means to choose You and choose others and what it means to fight the enemy instead of them and instead of myself and instead of You.”
December 15th
“Even though I’m in another country and I’m out of my comfort zone, I get to sit in Your midst.
He shows Himself to me in my squad and in my team and in our ministry hosts. In them I get to experience heavenly friendships. He invites me into divine moments as sweet and as small as laughter or the sound of worship in a different language. The Father winks at me in silly moments like karaoke to ‘Mistletoe’ by Justin Bieber, and in the goofy smiles of a Romanian missionary I get the privilege to adore as a genuine brother in Christ. I have more brothers and sisters, simply because I answered a call to ‘go.’
Lord, you have flooded this heart as I’ve tossed around love in this beautiful country.”
Kids in the market we got to meet!!
Dalton and Raina and a man we met at the market.
A castle I got to visit.
Ministry in the market with Romanian missionaries and some kiddos we found along the way.
Cheesecake making for ministry with sweet Kori Jane.
Sydney, Samy, and I. Sweet best friends of mine.
Samy and a cool view.
Worshipping with Samy and Jack is so sweet. I love these brothers of mine. I love how passionate they are for the Father and how they express it through worship.
