The Loving Deeds of the Lord

I have been thinking a lot about what to write for this blog. There are endless things I could say about what I have learned in the last few weeks. I am reminded of psalm 107.

He redeems, He gathers, He delivers, He leads, He satisfies, He saves, He brings, He breaks away, He cuts through, He sends out, He rescues, He speaks, He stills, He guides, He turns, He blesses, He increases, He lifts…

These last two weeks I have seen so many loving deeds from the Lord. Our ministry has looked very different and sporadic, but wow has the Lord been working.

At the orphanage we spent time playing with kids and teaching Bible stories. As a team we were finding it hard to find our purpose there, and understanding why God brought us there. Nelly, the mom of the orphanage prayed with us one day and when we asked for request there were several; water bills, for guidance in helping one of the kids, and for the Lord to provide peace and a way to go to her friends funeral. After we were done praying, our team collectively felt called to fundraise money and pay for the plane tickets she needed to go to her friends funeral. We asked our community to help fundraise and we doubled our goal within 2hrs! HE PROVIDED! As we approached Nelly to tell her we wanted to bless her with this, she was in awe and humbly said, “I was really hoping it didn’t seem like I was asking you guys to do that.” I realized in that moment that our ministry is to her. God loves her so much and wants to honor her yes to Him, and her obedience, and wants to use us to bless her. HE BLESSED!

We got the opportunity to help with a small youth camp with about 30 kids. It was called ignite. The vision for this camp was to ignite the kids, and to start a spark in them to then go back and be on fire for Jesus. Before going, our squad talked about how in order to cultivate an environment for others to encounter Jesus, we need to be encountering Him for ourselves. This was on my mind a lot going into the weekend, so I focused more on my relationship. I felt that changed a lot of how the weekend went. When I was filled, I was able to pour into others. At the camp we did not have a huge role, but to hang out with the kids and cultivate that space. There was one night we walked down to the beach in complete silence and darkness and I heard the Lord clearly through one of the other leaders, “If you’re too worried about falling to look up then you’re going to miss all the beautiful things God is offering you.” HE SPOKE! I realized that I had been really busy worrying about what life was going to look like when I come back, to see what God is offering me right now here in His presence. I was surrounded by His beautiful creation, and reminded how big He is.

We then got to spend a few days working construction. GLA is working on building a technical school for students to learn skills and trade work, in order to help employ the people of South Africa. The person who was overseeing us in this project is named Lucas. He was clearly sent from the Lord to lift us up and encourage us in our time here. HE BRINGS! We had been praying for us to be set on fire for the Lord, and he came with a fresh perspective, and a heart on fire. As we worked with him, he brought us back to Christ constantly. He showed us what it is to truly live for, and with Jesus. He shared several testimonies of how God has worked in his life. He shared many stories and lessons that made us all think. At the school we got to wash walls, grind off rust, and paint. Lucas showed us this was an act of worship, not just manual labor. At the end of one of the work days he took us to do some outreach. All 17 of us were able to go to the slums of Jeffery’s Bay and talk to people who were lost. HE GATHERS! The slums is a very poor community where we talked to alcoholics, teenagers, gang members, widows, and children. There was one woman we talked to who had lived in this shack-like home. A structure that was built with sheet metal. It was in a hole covered with plastic and for years she lived there as a single mother with her kids and water would constantly flood the place. Their clothes and mattresses were always wet. She told us this story and how she continuously prayed for the Lord to deliver her out of this situation. Lucas came upon her last year and worked with the community to build a better structure for her and her family. HE DELIVERS! She talked with much gratitude.

We then were brought into working for this camp called #Imagine. This camp is a large camp put on all over South Africa, and this was the first time in 6 years that it was back in Jefferys Bay. The squad was met with a lot of adversity. Truthfully, we struggled a lot. I believe we experienced a lot of spiritual warfare. We struggled with our purpose there. As it was a large camp and we didn’t feel we were serving much. We also felt a lot of heavy conviction through some of the programming and our role. However, the Lord brought our squad together and closer to Him through this. We felt more unified as we became more vulnerable with one another. We were reminded what it means to serve the Lord by submitting to authority that we may not agree with. We were reminded that we need to trust His plans because they are much greater than we can imagine, even when we do not understand. I felt the enemy try to turn our ahead away from what God was calling us into. I felt an abundance of noise and distraction, and the enemy trying to get us to back down from what God was doing by the convictions we felt. But we were reminded of our triumphant God who works all things for good and His glory. He turned our head back to Him and His purpose. HE TURNED! When the squad wanted to walk away the Lord lead us back into what felt like a battle and allowed us to shine a light in what felt like darkness. HE LEAD! Philippians 2:14-16

Then this Sunday as well as last Sunday, I got the opportunity to attend a church/Bible study for the homeless. I went with a few people from my squad along with Lucas, and afterwards we went to one of his friends houses. Who happened to be the leader of one of the gangs here. As we sat on his couch and talked to him I was in awe of how the Lord redeems. This man who has killed people, has been addicted to drugs, and has been in and out of prison, met the Lord and turned his life around. HE REDEEMED! He told us about how he wants to lead his gang into peace and reconciliation. Lucas compared him to Moses. And how God chose someone within Egypt to lead His people out of slavery. I watched this man have a passion to lead his people back to God. I probably should have been scared sitting on the couch of man who has killed people, but all I felt was a burning to stay there for hours and to come back again and again. I felt the Lords presence and the Spirit working as He was cutting through years of walking in brokenness and sin. HE CUT THROUGH!

Oh the loving deeds of the Lord.

These last two weeks have been so strange. But I have learned so much about my walk with the Lord and how to truly abide in Him. And what it looks like for Him to truly be Lord AND Savior of my life. As we approach these last two weeks please pray for endurance and revelation of what the Lord wants to do and is doing through us and around us!

And please remember all of the loving deeds of the Lord!