New Wine

¡Hola! Buenos días, buenas tardes y buenas noches. That’s right guys I actually became fluent in Spanish between the time I wrote my last blog to now. But I’m going to write the rest in English, just for your sake of course.

Here’s what you missed over the past two weeks:

• I moved from Fabi’s to Dunami’s, a nonprofit organization in Quito, Ecuador focused on serving underage girls who have suffered sexual abuse or have been rescued from human trafficking 

• Became a tomato farmer in their greenhouse

• Eaten more bread than I thought possible

• Gotten a parasite

• Killed the parasite

• Played soccer in a cloud 

• Thrown a birthday party for our host

• Gotten trapped on a trampoline by a horse named Sarah

• Cooked plantain empanadas

• Burned plantain empanadas

• Learned that language barriers are no match for the game of UNO

I am officially in my third week of ministry at Dunamis. The last two weeks I have spent seven hours a day in the greenhouse. I am an absolute master of pulling weeds and picking out ripe tomatoes now. I also have stained every piece of clothing I own and my hands are dyed brown from the dirt.

With this work comes a lot (and I mean a lot) of time to talk. That being said one day Josh asked Clara Jane and I if we had a song that described this season of our lives. At the time I didn’t have any sort of answer. As of last night, I do. 

The past three weeks the Lord has oh so sweetly been pulling me in the direction of his desires instead of mine. Asking me to have faith in His plan even if I don’t understand it at the moment. Part of this is the decision to go back to the University of Georgia next fall. If it was up to me I’d be on the next flight to Greece never to be seen again. But that isn’t what the Lord has in store for me after and I am not meant to worry about that now.

Although UGA wouldn’t be the decision I would have made, the Lord has given me an overwhelming peace about it. For the moment He has planted me in Ecuador and I am meant to grow here. To lay down all that I want for all that He wants for me. Plot twist that only I didn’t see coming: His will for me is ALWAYS more fulfilling than my will for myself (even if I think mine sounds better in the moment).

That being said last night I stumbled upon the answer to Josh’s question. It’s New Wine. No not actual wine, don’t freak out. It’s a song by Hillsong Worship that perfectly encapsulates what the Father is calling me to right now

“In the crushing, in the pressing. You are making new wine. In the soil I now surrender. You are breaking new ground. So I yield to You and to Your careful hand. When I trust You, I don’t need to understand”

These words describe what He has been teaching me over the last bit. Right now, He is calling me to have faith in Him and His plan for me. To live in this moment and allow Him to change me. To change from what I thought I wanted my life to be to what He wants my life to be, no matter what that looks like. To put one foot in front of the other stepping out in the faith that I don’t have to know the end of the story to know that He will provide. 

I don’t know about you but I am eternally grateful to have a God who guides my feet in the right direction. Without Him doing so I would probably be choosing to be homeless on the beaches of Greece. And don’t get me wrong that still sounds good to me but not nearly as good as even a portion of what He has planned. 

Right now, He is calling me to faith. Calling me to rest in His arms. And that’s all. 

all my love, 

sarah hicks