Coming to Life

On my recent journey to Sik@sso I saw an amazing moment in time! I’m sure it happens a lot here in M@li but not something the average person gets to see as it is happening. Things here often bring stories in G0d’s Word to life right before your eyes. That is exactly what happened!

I was driving across a bridge and as always, I looked up the river as I was crossing the bridge…water has always had a special draw to me. This time was no different. When I saw what was happening in the river, I had an irresistible NEED to turn the truck around, park it, and watch. So I did…as soon as I could slow down and turn around, I was parked and walking to the bridge. 

 

I stood in amazement watching a large herd of cows crossing the deep river…some even swimming. I stood with some M@lians who were on the bridge watching. Then I could hear the bleating of sheep…loud bleats calling and crying. I asked someone next to me, are the sheep going to cross too. “Yes, after,” was the reply. I surveyed the whole scene and found the shepherds coming closer to the water encouraging the rest of the cows to cross. Then I saw some of the sheep just jumping in the water swimming their way to the other side. The cows and sheep were crossing side by side. Soon there were no more cows, only sheep. The challenge of the shepherds became increasingly greater as those who needed to cross became less and less. One little lamb jumped in eager to cross with his mother, but the journey was too long and the current to strong. He turned back and headed to the safety of the shepherds and the dry ground.  

 

Shortly after the lamb returned to land, I saw 2 shepherds come walking across the bridge carrying lambs in their arms. I saw another shepherd in the water carrying 2 lambs across the river. Then two young shepherd boys, each with a lamb around his neck.  Each of these were a  scene in my mind that I will never forget.

 At first, the other shepherds were guiding the sheep gently into the water  knowing the water was cold and the sheep were not confident. Then the more fearful the sheep became the more the shepherds had to encourage them…even to the point of taking them by the front feet and walking them into the water. They would walk them halfway across the river only to have them turn around and head back once they took their hands off of them. Finally the remaining few sheep were stubbornly refusing to cross the river. 

 The shepherd were now dragging them by their front feet with their hind feet dragging through the water leaving skid marks on the river bottom I’m sure. They would take the sheep over halfway, so that it was closer to keep going than it was to return to the place they knew. This didn’t stop the sheep. Some still turned around and headed for the river bank from which they came. The shepherds just kept working to get all the sheep to the other side of the river. 

 

As I walked back to the truck and drove on to my destination, I pondered all that I had just seen and experienced. Many truths from G0d’s Word came flooding into my mind:

Psalm 23—The L0rd is my Shepherd, He guides me, I will not be afraid

John 10—Jesus declares that He is the Good Shepherd. He sacrifices His life for the sheep unlike the hired hand who runs away when danger comes. He knows His sheep and they know Him.

Luke 15—The Parable of the Lost Sheep and how the shepherd goes to find the lost sheep. When he finds it, he carries it home on his shoulders.

Moses and Joshua—As I watched the shepherds leading the animals across the river and then saw the difficulties of getting them all across the water, I thought about these men leading the people of Israel. How they faced so many difficulties, how some followed well, some always wanted to go back to where they had come from, and how some followed but dragged their feet the whole way. 

It was a day of sweet fellowship with My Good Shepherd as He taught me much about life, as He made His word come to life before my eyes, as He taught me how to use these truths to tell of Him in a culture where shepherds still live and work the way David did.

Father's Provision

Being a peanut seller is not always the most exciting or easiest job to live life on. You have to patience to sit long hours, you have to make relationships with the people and of course you have to have good peanuts.  Most days there are only a handful of buyers; some days there are more, other days there are less and most of the buyers we would call “weekly regulars.” However, this is the life O lives daily!

O lives day by day and week by week on her peanut/ice sales. Every week she hopes to sell enough peanuts/ ice to buy more peanuts/ice to sell them the next week. The money that she has left over is then used to take care of her family. She is the one that provides for her seven children…she feeds them, she takes care of all of their needs and if one of them gets sick, she is responsible for their medications. Not only does she have to take care of her children, but there are weddings to attend, extended family to take care of and over the last year O is now required to pay a tax to the government for the street side corner she sells her peanuts/ice on.  For her there is no concept of a bank account, savings, interest, or even what it means to have a large quantity of money; for the money she earns is needed for everyday life.  

Over the last 2 months that L0ri and I have been back in M@li, O has shared with us some of her financial difficulties. More than once we have seen the pain and worry on her face because she did not have the money to buy peanuts to sell that week. Her eyes often penetrated with worry about her everyday life and responsibilities.

However, God’s w0rd tells us in M@tthew 6:25, 31-33:

 “…I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food and your body more than clothing? So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the K1ngdom of G0d above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

So we explained to O that Father can provide and will provide if she believes. For weeks we pr@yed with her asking Father to provide her with: peanuts to sell, people to buy her peanuts and an increase in how much peanuts she sells in a week. 

Then one Sunday O visited our house to w0rship and pr@y to Father. For one week she left town to go visit her brother and her daughters were in charge of selling the peanuts.  Monday evening I spent time with her daughters husking and bagging peanuts to sell the rest of the week. Then on Tuesday I visited one of her daughters on the street to continue to work peanuts and sell them. 

It was on this Tuesday that I began to see Father working in O’s life! Father was providing for O and her family!

 I have never seen peanuts sell on the street like I saw on Tuesday. Every 10-20 minutes somebody would come up to her peanut stand and buy peanuts. The most amazing part it didn’t stop on Tuesday, but continued on Wednesday and Thursday. In fact by Thursday evening her daughter told me they would be working peanuts again on Friday! 

This week Father showed O that He has provided and He will continue to provide! 

Please pr@ise Father with us for His provision of O’s peanut sales. Please continue to pr@y with us His provision for O and her family.

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.