Sweet Glimpses of G0d, Track Stopping Shocks

Sitting on the street, hanging out with friends, talking about our plans for the next week, working peanuts, doing the day to day things, pr@ying and blessing one another...that's what we do. In the midst of those things comes sweet moments and glimpses of G0d at work in the lives of our friends!

While working peanuts one day, out of the blue came the questions..."what is your Christian name? what did you say my Christian name was?" Then statements like..."Tomorrow I am coming to your house for you to pr@y for my trip to see my brother and to pr@y for him, he is sick." And later our friend says, "When I return from my trip, I want to be b@ptized."

These are the sweet glimpses of G0d that we see in the day to day building of relationship- the deepening of friendship and trust. These are also the things that stop you in your tracks as you are caught off guard. You say outloud...yes outloud..."WHAT DID YOU SAY?" knowing your friend doesn't understand a word of English. Then your brain kicks in and you are able to ask the same question in her language, "Mun ko?" You realize G0d is at work in the deep quiet places of a person's heart, mind, and spirit. You feel very inadequate to respond and suddenly a flood of humility washes over you as you realize the bigness of your G0d and His f@ithfulness to draw all people to Himself. 

 The next day our friend did come to our house and she brought 3 of her children and a young boy who lives in their compound. We had a sweet time of w0rship...singing songs of f@ith, dancing with joy to celebrate the truths of these songs, sharing a meal of spaghetti, and listening to a story from God's Word.

It was our first time to try to communicate G0d's Word without a translator. We listened to the story of the Four friends who brought the Paralytic to Jesus for healing.  Then we acted it out, and talked about what we liked about the story. Each one of us shared, and we talked about the f@ith that the friends had in J.s.s. We talked about the importance of putting our f@ith in J.s.s to take care of the needs of our friend and the health of her brother. We pr@yed together!

I love those sweet glimpses of G0d and the track stopping shocks He sends to show us His power and presence!

He Hears Our Cries

Greetings to you--the f@ithful who call on the Name of the L0rd!

 "But in my distress I cried out to the L0rd; yes, I prayed to my G0d for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached His ears." Psalm 18:6

I come to you with a heavy heart today!! I come knowing that you will join me in lifting up the distresses being faced here in M@li and that our G0d will hear us. I love that our G0d listens--our cries reach His ears!! Psalm 18 is one of my many favorites. David declares his love for the L0rd and he confesses many of the ways in which the L0rd made Himself personal to David. He said, "The L0rd is my strength, my rock, my fortress, my savior, my protection, my shield, the power that saves me, my place of safety." We serve the same G0d and He is ALL of these things for us!! The Psalm goes on to describe the distress David had just faced and called on G0d to help him through. Then my favorite part is G0d's response...in a nuts shell G0d moved heaven and earth to come down from heaven and rescue David. It is a must read and I ask you to join my today in reading it as we pr@y and cry out to G0d on behalf of the people of M@li.

Two things of urgent pr@yer I bring to you.

• The first is famine! The peoples with whom we are working are farmers and they live on what they grow. Without rain, there is no food. This year's harvest did not produce due to the lack of rain. Those of us living and working here are experiencing the reality of this famine as we visit and talk with our people. One friend told of a man who walked from village to village with his family seeking for for his wife and children. All the food he found, he gave to them. Then he himself died. Another friend told of a man who normally harvests 32 bags of peanuts. His family survives on 20 bags and he sells the rest for money to buy other foods. This year he harvested 2.5 bags of peanuts. They have already eaten 2 bags since November. The situation is desperate all over M@li.
• The second is fighting! M@li has experienced much peace in the past when the surrounding countries have all been war torn. Over the last few years we have seen an increase of unrest in the northern part of M@li..mostly contained in the desert region. Rebels and militant groups have been fighting and making demands. The M@lian military is working to maintain peace, but lives are being lost, people are in fear of their lives, and others are protesting against the government. Yesterday, there were many demonstrations and protests all over the capital city. We were advised to stay inside and not leave our homes...which we did. 

My request of you is that you begin daily pr@ying and crying out to our Father on behalf of these two situations in M@li. G0d knows every detail but just as Psalm 18 says, "He hears us from His sanctuary." Our cries reach His ears and G0d responds...He moves heaven and earth to rescue us from our enemies--physical, spiritual, mental, emotional enemies!
thank you for your bended knees...they move our G0d!
l0ri

Hair on the Egg

"Wait patiently for the L0rd. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the L0rd." 

Psalm 27:14

While working in K0uti@la, our M@lian co workers taught us this B@mbara saying:

Munyuli be si bo shefan na. 

Patience is like hair on an egg.

 
It simply means that if you want to have a chicken you must have patience to wait for the egg to develop hair and be cracked opened by the chick that has grown inside.




As I pondered this saying and the truth wrapped up in it, G0d spoke loudly to me about patience and this journey with Him. There is no rush from G0d's perspective--only the orchestration of details, readiness of every person involved, the provision of all that is needed, the surrender of all things to Him and His will. He is willing to wait for the hair to grow on the egg--for His children to grow and learn whatever is necessary to walk in Oneness with Him and to experience the realness of relationship with Him.

Patience is not something that most of us enjoy exercising! We are a people of instant gratification...we want it and we want it now!! However, patience is required by our Father as we f0ll0w Him and surrender to His will and not our own. Do we really have a choice when it comes to G0d and patience? He is Sovereign and He will accomplish His plan in His way according to His timing!!

A Confident Heart

"My heart is confident in you, O G0d; my heart is confident. 

No wonder I can sing your pr@ises! 

Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp!

I will wake the dawn with my song. 

I will thank you, L0rd, among all the people.

I will sing your pr@ises among the nations. 

For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. 

Your f@ithfulness reaches to the clouds. 

Be exalted, O G0d, above the highest heavens. 

May your glory shine over all the earth."

Ps@lm 57:7-11

On our last visit to B@ye, I saw with my own eyes the amazing work and f@ithfulness of our Father! I stood looking at R@dio K@ntiguiya with a heart filled with gratitude, amazement, and humility!! Before my eyes stood a beautiful building that would house the inner workings of a r@dio station and the fulfillment of a dream to proclaim the W0rd of G0d and the story of J.s.s among the many nations and peoples that live here. I stood with a confidence in my G0d like I have never had before! 

A confidence that this G0d I serve and love with my life is f@ithful...He is dependable...He finishes what He starts...He does what He says He is going to do!! The station is not yet complete, but that day I knew without doubt that in G0d's time...HIS EXACT TIME R@dio K@ntiguiya would be proclaiming His greatness, His s@lvation, His unfailing love, and His own f@ithfulness to all people within earshot of this station.

I was able to see the equipment that would broadcast the name of J.s.s and meet the young man who would work as our technician. Two weeks later I received word that the funding for the completion of the r@dio station has been approved and G0d's timing is approaching. He is still at work demonstrating His unfailing love for the people who live in this region and showing His followers that His f@ithfulness DOES reach to the heavens!! 

Will you join me in a song of pr@ise...will you give thanks to Him...will you exalt His name? Keep your eyes open...His Gl0ry is shining over all the earth...and soon it will be brighter than ever in B@ye and beyond! 

Sitting out on the porch husking peanut shells at O’s house, I begin to hear one of the young boys, Ab, sing a song about J.s.s. It was a catchy song, one that we can all easy remember and sing again. As some of O’s children and I joined in with Ab we continued to sing this song over and over again.  Then one of O’s daughters turned to me and said “Ab woke up singing this song in the morning!” 

The previous day, Ab had been over to our apartment listening to this song about J.s.s and hearing Father’s W0rd. And this song was a song that stayed in his heart and mind throughout the night and into the morning. 

Ab is a part of O’s extended family; at a young age his mother died and his father does not live in the same compound. Without a mother, any known siblings or father that lives in the same compound, he is alone. Lately, L0ri and I have seen that O has been taking care of Ab and Ab looks up to O as a mother. Every time we work peanuts, Ab is around working with everybody else. When we bring J.s.s songs for O to hear, Ab is always by her side listening; sometimes even holding the mp3 player to his ear to listen intently. Often times we pr@y that young children like Ab would go to bed singing these songs about J.s.s and wake up the next morning with these same songs about J.s.s on their heart, in their mind and even singing them a loud for all to hear. It was amazing to see this pr@yer come to life!  

Please continue to pr@y for Ab and his continue interest in the J.s.s songs. Pr@y for his mind, eyes and heart be open to receiving J.s.s! Pr@y for his heart to be filled with the songs and words of J.s.s every night that he goes to bed and every morning that he wakes up.

We arrived in the village knowing only 1 beli.ver of J.s.s; we left the village knowing 3 beli.vers of J.s.s….  

The school house was loud, filled with the many voices of small children singing a song about J.s.s. The sound of their singing reaching out to the ears of both young and old women, drawing them toward the school house. The pounding and sifting of grain stopped momentarily as the women were curious to see what was taking place in the school house.  As the women came to join us, a young woman with a small baby took a sit listening intently. Slowly, the women started to leave one by one, as they had more pounding and sifting of their grain to store; however, the young women with a small baby continued to sit there listening intently and even participating in the singing. After 2 hours of singing and telling 2 stories from Father’s W0rd we dismissed the children.

As the children were leaving the school house, I began to speak to the young woman with the small baby. H3lene introduced herself to the team and told us she was a believer of J.s.s. She told us that her husband and she had recently moved into the village looking for work! They hadn’t meet S@li (a beli.ver) and thought they were the only beli.vers living in the village. 

As it was approaching lunch time, H3lene had to return home to fix lunch and the team began to walk in the village greeting and visiting the people.  As time allowed, the team was able to find where H3lene lived and took the opportunity to sit and visit with her. H3lene shared with them her struggles to living in a village, not knowing many people and not able to find work. H3lene also shared with the time that they do not have much food to eat because they do not have money to buy it. The team was able to encourage her and pr@y with her right then, believing that Father would provide work for them. As the team was ready to leave H3lene told them that they could not have the road. H3lene had sent somebody to go buy tea and sugar to honor her guests for spending time with her. The little money that her family had, she wanted to treat her guests with an M@lian tradition of tea.

As the team made its way back to the school house for lunch, we had heard all the struggles that H3lene and her husband are currently going through. We then began to share with P. D@o that there was a new family of believers in the village and also asked him to pr@y for them, for they do not have work and are struggling to live here. Immediately, P. D@o said “They can work for me…I need help harvesting my rice fields!” Father was already beginning to provide work for this family and showing us an answer to our pr@yers. 

For one last time we visited the family, introduced them to S@li and pr@yed with them. We give thanks to Father for showing us to this family of beli.vers and all the opportunites we had to spend with them. 

Please pr@y for H3lene, her husband and their child! Pr@y for them to see Father in H1s provision of work, food and a family of beli.vers.

Continued Connections

We had not been on the road very long...about an hour and a half. The rental vehicle that was traveling with us, overheated and was unable to continue with us. We were stranded (our perspective) or purposefully stopped (G0d's perspective) in a v1llage called T1ng0le for a few hours while we waited on a replacement vehicle. There was an older woman sitting on the roadside under a tree with a young child in her lap. We didn't stand long before she had some children bring us some chairs to sit down with her. I love that about this culture...all are welcome at any time to sit, greet, and enjoy a few minutes(or hours) together. We greeted and talked for a bit. More women gathered on their way back from a B@mb@ra language class. These women were learning to read their language through a class being taught by Chr!st!ans.

We began telling them a story from G0d's word and talking with them about it. They loved the story but were not yet ready to f0ll0w J.s.s. They responded,  "We are waiting on the chief and men to lead us". The team shared testimony about how their decision to f0ll0w J.s.s is a personal decision...how they could not f0ll0w because of someone else. The women listened and asked if we would come back to tell them more stories. They liked the stories and hearing about J.s.s. We promised we would stop and greet them. In my heart, I felt a tug from our Father to come back and spend time with them. We travel through this v1llage every time we journey to our people, and stopping to spend a few hours with them is doable.

On our return from the v1llage, C@therine, J0ke, and I stopped to greet the family we had spent time with while purposefully stopped. We were welcomed in the midst of their surprise to see us. We just greeted not staying long since they were heavy into preparing dinner and we needed to get to B@m@ko before dark. During this visit we met a new woman. An elderly woman who was working shea nuts and preparing them to make shea butter. After greeting each of them, we made our way back home.

The amazing part happened after our return to B@m@ko. We were sitting on the street with O and her mom visiting after our travels. We told them about the stop we had to make in T1ng0le because of the car troubles. O's  mom said, " I know T1ng0le. My older brother's wife lives there. Sometimes I and spend the day with her there." Her brother is dead, so she goes to spend time with her sister in law. Through the conversation, we discovered that the elderly woman working shea nuts was the sister in law of Sano, O's mom. At that moment, my mind just stopped as I considered the continued connection G0d is making with us and this family. First, Oma was my driver, then O became our language and culture teacher in B@m@ko, Sano sits with us as we work and sell peanuts, and now her sister in law in a v1llage an hour and a half away stays with the family that our Father has opened a door for telling His story. Give thanks to Him today and give pr@ise for the way He connects people for His plan and His purpose of making Himself known among all peoples.

Pr@y for us as we plan to take Sano with us to T1ng0le to visit and demonstrate the love of J.s.s to this family as well as share more of His story with them.

Pr@y for Father to bring s@lvation to this family and other families in the v1llage of T1ng0le.