Nicaragua Mia

As my Facebook news feed continues to fill up with more and more shares about the chaos unfolding in Nicaragua right now as I type, my heart is saddened. And burdened. With each new link spelling out more bloodshed and unrest and violence, the beats of my heart quicken. Is this really happening? I’m not there so I’m not experiencing it first hand. But the pictures and the videos horrify me. Fires and gunshots and screams and looting. Anger over injustice. Rage at corruption.

And I feel it within me sitting here in a quiet library miles away. The silence here is peaceful and yet I know that peace is not a place. It’s a Person. Jesus. The only peace-giver and peace-sustainer.

My heart cries out with the people of Nicaragua. Sadness over senseless bloodshed and mass chaos. Worry and fear over what will develop in the next hours and days in a country ruled by power-hungry and resource-confiscating leaders.

What solution will come? What will calm the unrest?

Our family moved away from Nicaragua almost two years ago. A place we called our home for nearly twelve years. She is where my husband and I met, fell in love, had a our first two kids.  Where we thrived and where we failed. Where we learned and grew. Where we wept and rejoiced. Where we saw much fruit and where we witnessed much famine. Our hearts are forever connected to this beautiful, struggling, amazing, resilient, and volatile country.

Most days I feel fairly distanced from my former home. Sometimes it seems as if it was only a dream. Another lifetime. Today I can picture it as clearly as if I was there. The sun beating down, the dust on my tongue and staining my feet, the sounds of buses and people and animals and life as I knew it. Life continuing on, struggling on. In my mind’s eye I’m there. I’m there in the long lines at the grocery store waiting for access to purchase my supplies in case I’m holed up in my home for days, perhaps weeks. I’m there receiving the news that school is cancelled again and won’t be in session until further notice. I’m there hearing my kids ask the questions “What is happening? Are my friends safe? What about my teachers? Will we stay here? Will we go?” I’m hearing the gunshots and watching the news reports. I’m feeling the tension, the disorder, the fear.

I wrote my second book, Ending Well, about our journey of saying goodbye to our dear Nicaragua and beginning a new life as we re-entered life in the United States. In it I detailed how our family was intentional about saying our goodbyes, leaving on good terms and thus preparing for our new season of life in the States.

Yes, we ended well. We left well and also are thankful to have re-entered well. But though our daily life and ministry has ended in Nicaragua, our connection to it, our prayers, our thoughts, our heart for her have not ended. And I hope never will. Nicaragua is part of me. And I am part of her. Our prayers and thoughts are with our brothers and sisters caught in the fear and in the danger playing out at this very moment. We pray God’s mighty presence to bring order and peace and justice to their land. Father, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Our church here in Littleton, Colorado is going through a series on discipleship as it relates to the kingdom of God. I’m reminded that, as believers who have chosen to follow the call of Jesus, we have stepped into a new kingdom. We live in the tension that this kingdom is here now and not yet. The kingdom of God is in direct competition with the kingdom of this world. But the kingdom of light is pushing through the kingdom of darkness. Jesus, the only true King will prevail. His power and authority does not lead him to suppress and control. He uses His authority to restore and bring wholeness. Hallelujah! We need a reminder of your presence in this world today. Jesus, take control of the situation in Nicaragua and may her leaders bow to You alone.