The Bible says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord….and he delighted in his way…I saw that verse to be very true today. Sleep is still not what it used to be…I am beginning to think it is way overrated. It is definitely not my friend this trip…and it has definitely been the grace of God that has carried this weary body around all day long.
I got up early this morning…had some good quiet time with the Lord…gave Kevin a haircut…and went to the Big House for our prayer time. I am gonna miss these prayer times so much…but I am gonna take what I have learned from them and use the lessons learned back home…be ready friends…we are gonna pray!!! I have seen what I have missed out on my not taking the time to pray with my family and friends…that MUST CHANGE!!! Do you realize that when we pray…we are entering the very throne room of God….ok….just in case you didn’t catch that…WE ENTER THE THRONE ROOM OF GOD…WE GO STRAIGHT TO HIS PRESENCE! I don’t know about you…but that is the only place I want to be. So once more today…we entered into His presence…and it was incredible. I crawled right up in His lap and He was just holding on to me…I told Him how I couldn’t find the words to say what was on my heart in that moment…so overwhelmed by Him…all He has done...all He is showing me…so thankful to be His daughter….so grateful for the Cross of Calvary and the blood that was shed for me by Jesus….I was completely awestruck by my Savior and my God. We have seen God answer so many prayers…we have seen hearts change….joy restored…there is a spark here…and for those of you that know my favorite song…”I wanna set the world on fire…until it’s burning bright for You…it’s everything that I desire…can I be the one You use…” God is definitely burning the wind of His Spirit on this place…there are small embers everywhere that are catching that wind and slowly coming on fire…we believe that God has the power to take the fire inside of us here and use it to start a world wide fire of people that are passionate about what Christ has done for them….will you join us? Will you take what you have been given and spark a fire in someone else to want to know Christ today??? Ok….I’ll change the subject…but the prayer time has been awesome!!!! I cannot stress that enough!
In my prayer I had asked God to order our steps today…if there was somewhere we needed to be that took us away from the duties at hand…I prayed He would do it…well...He did! I walked back to my room to get my chapstick of all things…love chapstick…and was told that I had a visitor at the door….BARBARA!!! Man…I have waited so long to see her….this is a lady that I met back in 2005. She had come to the mission one day…had walked a long way to get there, just to ask for prayer…she was very sick at the time and I wont go into her story…you can ask me later…but she was very sick and had many issues and just wanted prayer…I will never forget that day…Becky Bonner had come to a small group of us and asked if we had anything to help her with…we all pulled together and gave her food, clothes…money…medicine and best of all were able to spend time in prayer with her. Barbara’s heart and mine were connected from that point on. I have loved all the time I have had in the past to spend time with her…we have so many memories…I have walked to her village…spent time in her church….traveled to another village with her to teach a ladies conference…had some true fellowship with her…so you must know all that to know why I was so excited to see her. We just stood on that porch and cried and hugged…I invited her in to give her some letters I had for her…which brought more tears…we were crying so much…broken by hurts from the past, yet healed all at the same time…it got to the point that we couldn’t even talk to each other…we just sat on the bed and held one another…and somewhere inside I found the words to choke out a prayer to God…thanking Him for this dear precious sister in Christ. She brightened my day…we both grew a bit closer to our Savior and walked away healed and refreshed. I praise God for this woman…she is strength…faith…love…joy….she reminds me of Jesus…He is written all over her face. Thanks God for ordering my steps this morning!
After seeing Barbara..back to the kitchen! Once again…my steps were ordered….and I answered the door again…the Zambians come to the door and knock…then wait for you to answer it…this time it was my good friend Kasto…He came to the mission to greet Dick Jarvis…and me. How humbling…he traveled there and I was on his list of people he was coming to see…it was so good to catch up with him. He pastors the deaf in Luanshya…he has gotten married since my last trip here…and has a baby girl. I can’t wait to see them and meet them next week. What an awesome blessing!
I did a lot of baking today in preparation for the teams arrival…the first group got here this afternoon…I am so stoked about meeting new people…learning their stories and learning from their lives. We had a good time getting to know them…there are people from all over the states here…and 17 more are arriving tomorrow!!! Including Robin and Val!!! Yeah!!!
This was a great day…and I am so happy to report that! I am learning so much here…enjoying my time with God…listening as He speaks…being still….taking in every moment…letting Him lead…sitting at His feet.
One more thing…tonight after dinner a group of Zambians came to the door…they were all here working to get the tabernacle (the structure that will house the conference next week) built. They were planning on working till midnight…I asked Kevin if they had eaten…nope. I can’t handle that. I asked if we could take them some food…we were all on the same page. It was so humbling and rewarding to bring them food. The only part I don’t like about it is I felt like we were just bringing them our leftovers. We are so spoiled. Do they ever get a meal like what we had just prepared for the team that had arrived. I would love to cook up a huge feast for these precious people…the guys were so appreciative of their meal…eating every bite. ..the lesson I learned in that was…Don’t bring God the leftovers…He deserves the best I have to give. I know that the men appreciated the leftovers…but I so wish they could have been there at the beginning of the meal…having the best when it came out of the oven…I want to give God my best every day…not my leftovers.