I think I’ve cried more
this week then the previous weeks here in Ingane Yami. Emotional wreck 
the max – but – it’s for good reasons and the Lord is moving.
Today (Thursday, July 21st) was one of those days that you will remember forever. We woke up early this morning and a few of us girls headed to Hillcrest Primary School to lead a short worship session. Kids ranging from 5 to 13 years old arrived and grouped outside of the school to hear us worship. Behki and Zee (the couple we are staying with) lead worship and of course, they sang in Zulu. It was neat to see how many faces lit up once we started singing. The kids smiles were contagious. I couldn’t help but smile ear to ear over it. They would look at me and giggle and then hide behind their friends. It was the highlight of my day.
Later in the afternoon, Behki took us out into the Dassenhook community to just greet the local people and invite them to church on Sunday. We met some incredible people during our walk. We prayed over a woman who was recently in the hospital and is now suffering from blindness. She explained to us how she can see shadows but cannot differentiate who the person is. We prayed over her a deep, promising prayer that she should gain her sight back and be relieved from any future pain. Her nephew, two sons and daughter lived with her in this tiny mud house. We met the nephew and found out he has been struggling with back pain, mainly due to scoliosis. We prayed over him as well and the joy that came out of it brought tears to my eyes. I just sat with this woman on the bench she was sitting on and held her hand as everyone else prayed over her nephew. I felt content in the fact that God WILL heal her body and WILL deliver her from pain.
We continued our stroll through the community and visited a couple houses that Behki knew of. Something about South Africa that is similar to America is that in certain areas, work is difficult to find. The majority of the people we met were either out of work or currently working for little to nothing. Of course, it automatically put things into perspective regarding how my life back home is so “easy” compared to their lives. But something that I learned in Jamaica was that God restores and provides whether we are present or not.
Next, we went to have coffee with the interns that are involved in a program called, “Year of your life,” which is basically the American “gap year”. Although, this program is based on basic teachings on growth and independence for a whole year. It also puts a strong emphasis on following Gods will for your life and being willing to step boldly in faith towards that will. It didn’t quite speak to me in any certain way but the company from the interns (which there are 11 of them) was much needed. I got to share a little bit of my story regarding college and the insecurities that are following that – which lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders.
Being away from home has taught me more about myself then ever before. I am proud of the growth that I’ve worked SO hard for. I am proud of the team that I am with for stepping out of their comfort zones and simply giving their lives over to the Lord to direct.
We are not called to comfortable Christianity. We are called to step out into those uncomfortable situations and boldly declare that the Lord is GOOD – that He is HOLY and PURE.
The power of prayer is intense. A good intense. The kind of intense that makes you step back and take it ALL in. God proved to us that He is stronger than our own human flesh – stronger than the lies of Satan. He has proved that He is willing to confirm any doubt or worry that comes to our minds because let’s be real, we all have those moments where we sit back and question, “was that really from the Lord or was that just me daydreaming?” Am I right? Something that I’ve learned is to take those initial words and visions that are on my mind and to just RUN with them. RUN. Take them to a safe place of worship and quiet and just meditate on them. Thank the Lord for His goodness and promises.
It shouldn’t take coming to a whole different country for that to sink in but it happened to me and it WILL happen to you as well. The goodness of the Lord is there. All you have to do is grab it and run with it.
