Its been over a month since our team arrived home from Africa. I have gotten a lot of requests for posting a blog. Questions have been coming up..... "Why didn't you post while you were over there" "Why have you not posted since you have been home"
My answer is this...... How do i begin to post what im witnessing while im over there? How do i put together words when i come home to paint some sort of picture for you all? Its a battle I wrestle with God each and every day.... HOW do I tell the story? How do I begin to tell you about baby Mabinty that i held in the hospital during her lasts breaths...... how her mother could not afford her blood transfusion so she was out on the streets trying to find money...... I paid for her transfusion...... 30 dollars. Is she still alive? probably not. How do i tell you about the slum we visited...... can't really call it a slum, i would call it a garbage dump..... literally. How do i describe the smell that overwhelmed me, or the children digging through the garbage trying to find a scrap of food to bring home to the family for dinner....... can't believe this happens? well it does, cause i saw it...... a young boy next to me found an onion peel, smiled, and ran back to his home to show his mother what he got to eat that night. How do i describe to you the sweet sweet sounds of the children in the villages singing the good news of Jesus....... the way they praise their father with every part of their being, or the way the lift their hands as they pray without giving a care in the world who was watching. Have you ever seen a 5 year old stand in front of his peers and give his testimony of what the Lord has done in their life? Probably not. Amazing isn't it? How do I tell you about the people that have forever changed my heart..... Auntie Alice, Aunty Marie, Osseh, Quami, my amazing team, the people in the villages, the hundreds of children that looked into my eyes in the week we were there.
Its not all depressing..... you see, God has this profound way of finding hope in the midst of tragedy..... want to hear about all the HOPE God gives in Sierra Leone? I saw HOPE when our team danced for two solid hours in the dark of night with 86 children at the center (talk about dripping in sweat!!) I saw HOPE when we took the afternoon to walk up and down the streets to pray with whoever we saw, to tell them the good news of Jesus...... HOPE when pastor daniel gathered children in the village to tell them who God was, and to then watch them accept him as their Lord and Savior.... and clap with excitement.......imagine that. HOPE was radiating once again when our team visited an orphanage off the beaten path. Two teenage girls half way across the world became my sisters that day..... and we will forever have a bond that again..... i can't describe to you. HOPE washed over the church service when a teenage girl who had suffered from a dark past because of the choices she made recommitted her life to Christ in front of hundreds of people.....HOPE is found in tragedy... and that is what we learn from people who live in poverty.
I can tell you this...... God is working, and he needs our help. He wants our hearts to break for what breaks his so that we can then do HIS work, with OUR hands. I can tell you that his love for you is a love we will never be able to comprehend. I can tell you that in Sierra Leone i felt angels among us every step of the way. I saw angels among us in the faces on the streets...... Have you ever met an angel?.... an angel who has punctured your life? Has this angel changed your life but also brought you closer to God? I can tell you that God wants you to reach out. Do the small things to show God's great love at work. Simple things done with great love will change the world. Your service power is not based on who you are, but who Jesus is through you. Based on that, i can tell you that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, and that when we offer ourselves to others, we offer ourselves to Christ.
Go.... right now. Pray about it. Sit with it.... and figure out where God wants you to serve. I promise it will fulfill your life in a way that you never saw possible.... Don't be average. Don't just exist......live. Take your passion.... and do something to impact the world.
Sitting with a heavy heart tonight as i miss my other family in Africa right now... But feeling inspired as to what God has up his sleeve next. If Challenges are what we live for then this is what i have to say..... God, bring it on.
Love to you,
Bethany
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