Answered Prayer

Confession time. I had been feeling pretty useless here in Nagarote. It seemed to me that I was spending most of my day experiencing the culture or taking care of Charlotte, and very little, if any even, of sharing the Gospel in an eternally valuable way. Now, part of this might have been because Charlotte wasn't feeling well and needed some extra TLC (which I was HAPPY to give), but the other part was that, without a translator available consistently, I hadn't been able to share with the children or adults around me about why I was here.

So yesterday, I poured my heart out to Bruce. And then this morning, I poured it out to God (I know, wrong order). In my alone time, I prayed and asked God to make me useful here. Even if it was in ministry to my own team. I just needed to see why I was here.

And God is so awesome that not less than 30 minutes later, he answered that prayer... and then kept answering it all day!

During our morning group time, another team member recalled a conversation she and I had the day before. In it, I had given her some practical advice that it was a good thing to do social work, pass out toys, clothes, candy, hugs, etc... but that if they didn't know WHY we were there, then all those clothes, crafts, and toys, were of no eternal value. I told her we needed to tell them we were doing these things because Jesus loves us and because he loves them.

Without that knowledge, our gifts are useless. No one else saw my tears, but I knew her sharing that story this morning was God's way of letting me know I was being used. Now, she has made sure the entire team is certain to make it clear WHY we are giving these things away to meet the practical needs of Nagarote.

Everyone learned to say Jesus Christo te amo, or Jesus Christ loves you. It isn't much, but we pray that by sharing the love that Christ has for these people, it will be easier for them to see Christ's love in us.

Comments

  1. GrandmaFri Jul 10, 10:25:00 PM EDT

    Maybe you are more like me than you realized. God uses us all differntly and in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, be in one of our making or better even, one He has placed us in. Our lives are to reflect Jesus to those around us by word, deed, & love. I find that supporting my "team" is no different than what you are experiencing and there are times I feel like you about not adding value. In those moments is when He shows me that He does use me for His purpose, just not in ways that were obvious to me. Don't underestamte your contibution on this team. You have created a wonderul blog that is being passed around as people ask me about the band I am wearing and I have an opportunity to share what this team is doing and and tell the stories or send them to the blog. Then others have asked me for it when they heard us talking. God's idea of the mission field is a lot bigger then any one trip.
    I love you ladybug...keep the faith and definitely keep up the blog for Mission Nargoate. :)

    Love, Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Byrd's NestSat Jul 11, 08:20:00 AM EDT

    I knew that the Lord would use you in a very special way Jennifer and He is......you just keep showing everyone Christ's love for you and for them. You will plant many seeds.

    ReplyDelete

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