The past few blogs, I have given a summary of the day's activities. Tonight, I feel like I need to share what is on my heart because it is more important that what we "did" today. This is how I have seen God today....
"Holy, holy, holy, Is the Lord God almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.
With all creation I sing: Praise to the King of Kings! You are my everything, and I will adore you!"
As I sit here and think about today and tonight, this song comes to mind. I praise God for today. He is our Savior and the only One who saves. That is what I have to remember.
It is easy to get caught up in our own thoughts and emotions. And yearn to help and save the children and put them all on the airplane and bring them back with us. I learned though that God created us with these strong emotions to remind us that He alone is in charge. He is the one that is watching over them and taking care of them. I am only a small grain of sand in this world.
I have seen people with completely different lives than my "normal life." God showed up today in my life and the lives of our team and He reminded us that we do not need much to be happy and we do not need much to worship and follow Him. To see these children and people of Ethiopia and how they live with little to nothing: one pair of pants or no pants at all, no shoes, dirt covering their skin, flies on their faces, and a tent or dirt hut to sleep in or no home at all, I am humbled before the Lord. God has told us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
Even though it would be easy for some to ask how can you see Christ in a place like that, doesn't Christ love them too, how can Christ be there when there are so many needy people? The truth is I see Christ here in this place among these people more than I have ever seen Christ before. The children speak boldly of Jesus, they stand up for what they believe in even though many around them are of different religions. For example, tonight as we were having the closing ceremony, in the midst of our worship, the muslim call to prayer and chanting began. But even in that still moment, our God was stronger than ever. We still continued to worship, we still continued to pray, and nothing else mattered. God humbled us and showed us that His grace is sufficient. Sufficient, in that, all we need is our God. When we meet Him at our heaven's gate, the things of this Earth will be gone, and the only thing we will be able to do is dance with Jesus and all of His children.
I wish I could have bottled up each of you and brought you on this trip with me to experience what I have experienced this week. Words can not explain or express our feelings and what God has done. I do know that we came on this journey because it was a divine plan. Perhaps we have all of these emotions at this moment and can't quite express what God's plan is, but in time God will reveal to us his mighty plan. One thing is certain, there is still work to be done. Our mission is not over.
Psalm 72 "For He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in His sight."
- Jane Crain
