Imagine this, 6 girls, 1 room, 1 couch, and 5 air mattres. All of the girls are trying to sleep. One is hot, one is cold , and all of them are waking up at different times throughout the night, but the 5 girls on the air mattress are experiencing the same thing. Deflation. Right before they went to sleep they would inflate the mattress as much as possible because, through-out the night, slowly, and often unrecognizabl, the mattress start to deflate. For those few lucky souls, their mattress still maintains enough air so that they don’t wake up on the tile ground. For others, there is nothing left. Mattresses aren’t the only things that deflate. Our energy deflates throughout the day as we have the time of our lives playing soccer and singing songs. Our patience can deflate as we cross our legs holding our bursting bladder when there is only one bathroom. Our hope can deflate when things don’t go how we want them to. Our emotions can deflate as we see heart breaking scenes as we walk through the town. But somehow I haven’t seen a single person on my team run out of steam. We’ve gotten close, but we haven’t. Because when defaltion came, inflation came right behind it. For me, on this trip inflation has come come 2 main sources. My teammates and God. My team mates remain positive and build me up and show me the lobe of God. We encourage each other, pick each other when we are down, and we are sensitive to eachothers moods. As I write this, it is Friday, exactly one week from when I met these people and I can say confidently that God has given me a second family. They accept me for my faults and cheer for my victories and I am so thankful for everyone of them. Thy inflate me when I’m running out of air. Now, this other person I’ve known for a little while longer he is my biggest cheerleader and gives me the strength I need. When I’ve started to run out of air, he would breath live in me, when I felt like what I was doing was worthless he would show me crazy and amazing things. God consistently and continually inflates me and brings me life. Mission trips are not the only places where we get deflated. We get deflated in everyday life when we go to school; to work, to the grocery store, and even just talking to our families. Don’t let yourself run out of steam. God is always there to inflate you, but it is almost just as important for you to surround yourself with godly people who will build you up instead of bringing you down. To finish this off I have 2 questions for you. Are you aware of how you are deflating and what is causing you to deflate? And who are you allowing to inflate you?
-Sarah Simmons, 17 years old
