I am so encouraged!

On Friday, I had several ladies come to me and shared how much they were encouraged by our Bible Study. One of the mama's shared that this is what they needed. To be encouraged. Gosh!!! Once again, these women have such a desire to know God, it's both amazing and motivating. I was told by the administrative assistant of Lambano (Martha) that one of the ladies came to her and shared how much she was encouraged by our time together. This woman is a recent widow, she was a pastors wife. She told Martha that she was experiencing "spiritual deadness", but the Word of God has awaken her heart. Can you believe, how awesome our God is? Ahhhhh! I am so in love with the God of this universe. Please do continue to pray for my relationship with the women. I am so glad to know that, "it is the word of God that converts the soul" (Psalms 19:7). What an encouragement it has been to my own heart to both hear and see how the Lord is working in the lives of the women. Ahhh, once again, I am so in love with the God of this universe. "Praise the Lord, oh my soul..." (Psalms 103:2).

"I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great, Studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, And His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and full of compassion"

(Psalms 111:1-4).

"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us But to Your name give glory, Because of Your MERCY, Because of Your TRUTH"

(Psalms 115:1).

This week (April 14-17)

Wow! I can’t believe that May is right around the corner. My time here seems to be going by so fast. I am praying that the Lord will help me to make the most of my time with the children and with the staff. This week, I found myself to be very busy. I am so thankful that I have things to do while I am here. One of responsibilities here as an intern is to coordinate for two missionary teams that will serve here from The Masters College and Grace Community Church in California. The first team consists of 10 students from TMC. They will serve here for six weeks by teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in the schools of Katlehong. One of my responsibilities for the next few weeks is to coordinate their housing, transportation, teaching schedule and their leisure activities. This is fun! On Tuesday, I met with one of the school principals to discuss the service of this team. The meeting was so very good, the teachers were excited and willing to have the students from the US come and work with the schools. The teachers were even open to having the students stay in their homes. What a testimony of the S. Africans hospitality!

This week, I also had the privilege of teaching Bible Study for the 1st time. Yeah!!! Honestly, I was kind of nervous. I wasn’t too sure about the topic of choice. One of the ladies shared the desire to be taught about something that would “build them up.” Although I don’t believe in building people up, so to speak, I knew exactly what she meant. She wanted me to teach something that would encourage them. These women, in my opinion, do want to know the Lord and although it’s a requirement for them to attend Bible Study, I do sincerely believe that they have a desire to want to know God. Please note that the conflict here with some S. Africans is that many will say that they are Christians while believing in their ancestors. I was told that many fear their ancestors more than they feared God. So, in teaching we have to be very careful and use wisdom in the way in which we proclaim God’s truth. We also have to make sure we don’t assume that they are saved or unsaved. So wisdom and discernment is always a prayer request. Today, I talked about the fact that God does hear us and that He is not some distant god who is not acquainted with our ways, instead, He is the One true God, who is intimately acquainted with all our ways. More specifically He hears the needs of the poor, especially those who are poor in spirit. (Matt. 5:3) I shared that unlike man God is not partial to those who are rich or poor, black or white, Zulu or Xohsa. (James 2:1-9; Job 34:19) I shared that the world puts us into categories based on race/tribe and wealth. But God does not see us like that. God has classified us into 2 groups and that is those who know him (spiritual man) and those who need to know him (natural man). (1st Corinthians 2:14-15) It was on this basis, that I sought to encourage them from the Scriptures. Overall, it was a good Bible Study, the ladies laughed and although they had a hard time opening up, they did ask questions and shared a little about their struggles. Hopefully, as time goes by they will be a bit more transparent. Please pray that as Beth and I seek to minister the Word of God to these ladies that it will fall on good soil, take root and bear much fruit.

Happy Birthday!!!! One of the children from our homes is celebrating a birthday tomorrow. He will turn seven, praise God! When the children turn seven we take them out to McDonalds. Yes, we do have a Mickey Ds. Thank God for global marketing! This birthday boy lives at the same house I do (78, see previous blog), so I took him out for dinner last night. He had pizza with a coke and I bought him a pair of cool sun glasses as a gift. He did look pretty cool! We had so much fun! I am thankful for the simple moments in life, the children are truly a gift from the Lord.

Please Pray

Currently, our children are getting very sick. Over the past days we have had to place the children in quarantine. A few of the children have chicken pox and mumps. Unfortunately, for HIV children, because of the weakness of their immune system they are more susceptible to these and many more illnesses. I was told that the chicken pox can spread to their brains and lungs, which can be very life threatening. Please pray that the Lord will keep our children in good health. Please also pray that their medicine will be effective. Finally, please pray that the staff and management will use wisdom in our care for the children. Thanks!

The God of Hope

The Eco-garden was quite informative. I learned a lot about gardening and will look forward to teaching others. I will keep you posted on the outcome as time progresses. While in the village of Kwandabele I had the opportunity to visit one of the adult hospices. Wow! What a sight?!? It was heart throbbing to see dying AIDs people. The sight was almost overwhelming, the residents were so emaciated. As I walked through the hospice the faces of some was that of anxiety and fear. I wondered what the thought process of a person who had a terminal illness was. I wondered if they had hope for the life to come. The reality of it all is that a person who has a terminal illness is no different from those who are seemingly healthy. We all have days that are numbered and we all have a judgment that awaits us. I must say the constant sight of poverty and the realities of death have been a bit sobering. As I see the effects of sin here in S. Africa I am reminded that “this life too shall past and only what’s done for Christ will last.” This simple yet profound statement has given me great perspective of the hope of a better life and a better promise.

This week

This week the children have been on school holiday. So they are a lot of children running around. I was asked to coordinate some activities for the children while they were out of school. Ahhh! I am so not creative. But, by God’s grace we played games and did some painting etc. They seemed to have had a lot of fun. This week I also had the opportunity to counsel a young lady. This woman that I counsel, like many women here, has a past of being severely abuse among other things. In the Scriptures we are taught about the Sovereignty of God. Yes, God is in control and He does indeed work out all things according to the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1:11) This is a great truth, a truth that is easy to communicate to a person who has had a very normal and safe life. But, this week as I prepared for a session with this young lady who has suffered at the hands of a wicked man, I struggled to find a way to communicate God’s truth to her. How could I tell her that before the foundations of the world, God in His sovereignty has predestined every step of her life, both the good and bad. This was difficult, but God showed me mercy. As a biblical counselor and as a Christian, we have to answer those tough questions about God, sin and the world. What I love about the Scriptures is that it is sufficient for everything pertaining to life and godliness. (2nd Peter 1:3-4) So, I proceeded with caution and great compassion to tell her that God indeed is good and that He is not the author of sin, but that even in the midst of sin, He has a plan and a purpose for her life. I shared the famous verse that is so loved and cherished by many Christians, Romans 8:28-29. I shared that all things, both the good and bad works out for good…I shared that that good isn’t a life free of suffering, but instead it is a good that allows us to be conformed more and more into the image of Christ, who when He was revile did not revile in return and when He suffered did not utter any threats but kept entrusting Himself to the one who judges rightly. (1st Peter 2: 22-24) To this we were called as Christian, we are call to suffer. Wow! But, even in the midst of the heinous evil this world has to offer, we don’t just suffer, but we suffer well. We can count it all joy when we fall into trials knowing that the testing of our faith develops perseverance so that we may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4) We have the joys of fixing our eyes on a God who is infinitely powerful and infinitely good. The God who is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. No, God is not the author of sin! He had a great plan for mankind. The good news is that He still has a great plan for us, a plan that has been distorted because of the fall but not destroyed because of Christ. I take great hope in the disparities I see because the effects of sin lead me to gaze upon my Savior, who suffered the most heinous evil ever. (Acts 2:23) Please pray that I will be confident in the Scriptures and confident in the God who has breathed out His Word, despite the tragedies I see.

“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matthew 9:36-38