Sunday, January 19, 2014

With My Own Eyes and Ears

His F@ithfulness R@dio...the fruit of all that G0d had placed in my vision 8 years ago!!! It became a reality in 2013, but this year 2014, I saw it and heard it with my very own eyes and ears!! I have longed for and waited for this time to actually see and hear His F@ithfulness R@dio on the air and to stand beside those who serve their community through this work.What a joy it was to peer in the doorways to see it in full operation.


On that first trip to the village 8 years ago, my friend, R!ta, and I were traveling to a remote part of M to see what G0d was doing among 3 different people groups. We were doing the study Bel!eving G0d together as we traveled. In that study the writer asked the participants to place a blue string around their wrist to remind them of the 5 statements of beli!eving G0d. We looked in the markets that day but could find no blue string. but G0d had a more lasting plan for providing us with a reminder.
Along that journey we saw this incredibly beautiful bluebird. One like I had never seen and one like I have never seen since. Every day as we journeyed to the village and while we were in the village, we saw this bluebird. It became our Bluebird of Bel!ef. To this very day, on every trip to the village and during every stay in the village, this Bluebird of Bel!ef has gone before us and flown beside us all along the way. Even when it was evident that our work was moving to the city because of the trouble in the n0rth, G0d brought this Bluebird across my path to show me He was indeed going before me and preparing the way for this change. This 2014 journey back to the village was no different. On the first morning when I woke up after staying the night in the r@dio station, I went outside to spend time with G0d. I looked up and there sat the bluebird on the tower watching the station. Pr@ise filled my heart and joy consumed me as I experienced once again the very REAL and PERSONAL Presence our our G0d affirming His work, His plans, His purposes!


I had fun looking at all the equipment and seeing how it all works to proclaim the G00d News of Jss throughout this remote area. The workers told me of how the children would come every Saturday morning to be on the r@dio. They would each have a chance to greet their parents and their friends on the r@dio. This is just one of the many creative ways the r@dio is making itself a part of the community.



On Sundays, the whole day is dedicated to Chr!st and making Him known through music, G0d's W0rd, and other Chr!sti@n programs.



After spending a couple of nights at the r@dio station, we headed to the P@n@ v!llage. The chief told us how he listened to the radio every day and how he no longer listens to anything else except His F@ithfulness R@dio!! It was a double blessing to be able to personally sit and listen to His F@ithfulness R@dio while we were there!! While we were eating or while we were just sitting around visiting, the r@dio was playing ...just like it was playing in compounds all over the 80 kilometer radius to which it was broadcassting!! Fullness of Joy!!!!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

The Year to Return...2014



Two years since I have been to the villages and the peoples to whom G0d sent us... two years pr@ying for their protection through the difficulties their country faced... two years believing G0d to be the S0verign L0rd over all things, all situations, all peoples... two years knowing He loved them and was with them more than I could ever imagine!!





 

2014--the year to return... the year to see what G0d has been doing... the year to rejoice in HIS F@ITHFULNESS!! I cannot express to G0d how grateful I am for the opportunity to go back and see those I have missed so much!








For me and for my heart, it was a full circle experience. I was with all the people who began this journey with me.  I was seeing the lives of those He had changed as we w0rshipped together. Where there was once only one f0ll0wer choosing to live the hard life of Chr!st in front of those in his v!llage, there were now close to 20 worshiping together. We spent the day talking about G0d's Word and looking at how to live that out in the culture of !dol w0rship.


It was a great discussion and the levels of f@ith were evident as we struggled through what f0ll0wing Chr!st looks like as a P@n@ f0ll0wer.

A favorite moment was when the f0ll0wers wanted to sing a song where they had changed the words into their own language. To see their response to that...instantaneous dancing and praising G0d in ways they can only do in their heart language!! What a joy to witness!!



A hard moment for me was the news that one of my precious friends I would sit with under the tree and learn language with had passed away 2 months before our arrival. She died giving birth to her 5th child. The child also died. My heart was and is still heavy for her husband and the 4 children she left behind. As we sat with her husband, he expressed his emotions in ways that are rarely seen here. Please lift him up to our Father and ask Him to comfort and bring salvation to this man and his whole household.