This was supposed to be like the DR.
I’m in a strange new environment, surrounded by God-fearing mentors, waking up at the crack of dawn, overwhelmed with responsibilities…why am I not experiencing revival as I did in the Dominican Republic? Why am I not marching out of my spiritual wasteland?
Exhausted by my disappointed expectations, I turn at last to the only One with answers to my rehashed questions.
It doesn’t matter how great your community is; nothing can replace spending time alone with Me.
And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place,
Mark 1:35
and there he prayed.
Reflections from Brightfield 
I’m glad that you’re remembering the importance of direct communion with the Father. He is the only one who can sustain us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have been pondering this Brightfield post. I think the question you were asking yourself was “Why don’t I feel revival at college like I did on a missions trip to the DR? “. Is that correct? I am going to continue this comment with that understanding of your question.
I am trying to remember and weigh and compare my experiences both at college and on a 5 week trip to Togo, West Africa in order to give you my two cents worth of wisdom.
Being in a third world country like the DR and Africa is totally different than being in an American college. Your “purpose of being” in these places is very different. You were in the DR to minister. In order to do that well, you had to daily seek the Lord for guidance and look for opportunities He brought your way. Maybe He brought certain nationals to you for help. While I was in Togo there was a certainTogolese woman I befriended and was able to minister to in a unique way. I had to seek wisdom and guidance to do that because I had to be careful to respect the culture which was foreign to me. I was very dependent on the Lord’s help.
We go to college for an entirely different purpose. Of course we can seek God to minister to student’s needs but our first purpose is to study and work hard to get an education, to equip ourselves for our future ministry God has for us.
I take it from your post that you were expecting both situations to bring the same result. Yet God brings these different situations into our lives to help us to grow in unique and different ways. He orchestrates the experience based on how He wants to grow us at any given time. I doubt I am telling you anything new. You have probably heard all this before.
In conclusion I just want to encourage you to wait patiently and relax. Don’t torment yourself looking for same feelings you may have had in DR. God is working in you and for you. In time you will see His shaping hand in your life.
Your post intrigued me and made me think and compare my past experiences. I thank you for that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I needed that reminder, and I completely agree with you. Coming into college, I had unrealistic expectations and I failed to consider how God works uniquely in different situations. One day I will be able to reflect on my college years and see how the Lord shaped me during them. But just as a child cannot stare at his own legs for twenty minutes and say, “Look, mommy! I’m growing!,” I can recognize very little of my own spiritual development in the moment.
Like your experience in West Africa, my missions trip helped me develop a very specific reliance on the Lord. Without this reliance, I could not have served my students or my fellow interns. Here at college, I am challenged in different ways. I need to remember that my response may be different as well.
LikeLike
As the saying goes “Grow where you are planted”.
We have minitries wherever He leads us. Continue to seek Him and ask Holy Spirit to show you when and where to speak into others lives, listen, or pray with them.😍Gramma Sue
LikeLiked by 1 person