If we have food and
clothing with these we will be content. -1 Timothy 6:8.
Keep your life free
from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will
never leave you or forsake you.” "Hebrews 13:5.
Give me neither
poverty nor riches; feed me with food that is needful for me… -Proverbs 30:8.
The Bible
tells us that both having too much money and also having too little can be bad
for spiritual and physical health or well being. Contentment comes with having
what you need and knowing that God promises to provide to meet those needs.
The other day my team (116 Clique) distributed food in a
tent community. It was organized chaos. They were not content. Most did not
have food or clothing. They did not have what they needed.
God how could you allow them to live this way?
Why are your children
running around naked? Why are your chosen ones running around without shoes?
Don't you know they could get sick? Why are their bellies bloated so big, their
hands so droopy and their knees so weak? Do you not love them?
Jillian, you have shoes. You have clothing. You have all of
these things in abundance. Do you not love them? Do you not love my children?
How about you? Do you love the Haitians?
I know God loves them! They may not have what they need but
we do. We can more than meet their physical needs and I believe that we are
therefore called to give out of our abundance as God's children. God has
provided but rather than give it directly to them He provides abundance first
to us, and then allows us the undeserved privilege of giving to those in need.
Our excess is their necessity.
We are God's vessels. He wants to provide and pour out
through us. Through me and through you. He could do it without us and most
definitely doesn't need us but because of His love He takes joy in allowing us
to give Him glory in that way. Our riches cry out to be used for His glory and their physical need cries out to be filled with our
abundance.
May we answer that cry. May we meet that need, in the name
of Jesus. There is no higher calling or greater privilege than to do live for
God.
There is a lot of need in this world. What are you going to
do about it?
By this we know love,
that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brothers. But id anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet
closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little
children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. -1 John 3:16-18.
We made it to Haiti safely, praise God. I'll be trying to blog and update but you can keep track with my whole team of 44 people by this address: relief.theworldrace.org
Pray also for me, that
whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will
fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I
should."-Eph 6:19-20.
Which you would not believe, though it were told you.
Habakkuk 1:5
Well, as of mid May I will have been back in Canada for a whole year. A WHOLE YEAR! Thats a very long time and I feel that an update is in order for you few faithful followers of my little blog.
For the past year I have been in Antigonish(my home town) studying at St. Francis Xavier University and although I don't feel God calling me back to StFX I do feel him calling me to stay here for another while longer. It will be filled with struggles I am sure but I've come to accept that as much as I dislike this place God is sovereign here just as much as He is on any other continent I place my feet on. And as much as I am dreading staying I am so excited to see what God is going to do and the relationships he is going to strengthen. He has changed me in the past year. I have been pruned and moulded. There is still a lot more to go and a lot more He needs to make right but the process is slow and God promises He won't give up on me.
For the near future, as you may have guessed from the title, Lord willing I am going to Haiti for the month of June with AIM. My team will be situated in Port au Prince doing various ministries. God is so good to supply me with adventure and opportunities to go and experience the world He created for His glory. At first I didn't want to go, my plea was "God send me back to Africa, please?" but when you pray for God's heart He is swift to answer and now I am Haiti bound and I can't wait!
There is a lot wrong in the world. There was a lot wrong in Haiti before the earth quake and there is a lot wrong in it now. What are you going to do about it?
God has made it clear what He wants me to do, and so I am ready and trusting in that although I am weak and unable to make any difference on my own I have power because I belong to God and He will work through me. That is a promise, I cling to it and rely on it.
So I ask you again. There is a lot wrong in Haiti, what are you going to do about it?
If you feel led to support me click here and just write my name in the participant spot.
Most importantly though, I ask that you cover this adventure in prayer. Cover me, my team mates and the people of Haiti and stand along side of us in that way. Our God is powerful and He does answer prayer. Pray for a work that will utterly astound us, change us, and that through it God will get all the glory.
The Bible tells us that he became sin who know no
sin. He became sin. Jesus became sin although he knew nothing of it.
He had never experienced it before, never committed it, but yet he became it
for our sake. It tells us in Romans that we are all sinners. We are sin. Christ became his utter
opposite so that we could obtain that which is opposite of us.
He became the one who is unrighteous so that we could become
righteous.
He became the one who didn't understand so that we might understand.
He became the one who doesn't seek after God so that we could seek God
and find Him.
He became the one who does no good so that we could do good in his name.
He became a throat like an open tomb so that we could speak words of
truth.
He became deceitful so that we could honest.
He became one who spoke words of poison so that we could speak words
of love.
He became one with a mouth of cursing and bitterness so we might
speaks words of uplifting encouragement.
He became swift to shed blood so we could bring healing in his name.
He became destruction so we could be reconstructed.
He became misery so we cold have joy.
He became un-peaceful so we could have peace.
He became one with no fear of God so we could fear God and love him
with our whole hearts.
He became sin so we could
become His righteousness.
For
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.
First of all I want to apologize to all of the people who
read my blog while I was in Africa. I stopped and I am sorry because there is
so much that I feel like I could have told you and should have told you.
I have been
back in Canada for almost 10 and a half months but I think writing this blog is
just as hard now as it would have been in the beginning of April last year when
I should have done it. Lately, I have really been feeling a push by the Holy
Spirit to write about a few specific things so here I am, still at a loss for
words and still wrecked by Africa but humbled and overjoyed in the presence of
my creator.
As some of you may know on April 5th, 2009 a
terrible accident happened in South Africa that left two of my teammates with
minor physical injuries and claimed the life of another.
My friend and sister Sarah Buller went to heaven that day.
Sarah was beautiful. She was joyful and full of love. On her
blog she had the title Loving those, who
others may forget. That was her heart. I had the privilege of living in the
same cabin with her in JBay for the first half of our time in Africa and we got
really close. It was always Sarah who would stay up late with me when everyone
else had fallen asleep and just soak in the silence or watch a movie. She came
to Algoa with us one day to check out our ministry and before we left I went to
find her in the bathroom and she was there with tears in her eyes because she
was so purely broken for the children she had just only met, the ones that
everyone else forgets.
To say that it was hard on my team would be an
understatement. It wrecked us. Not to say that we weren't wrecked by the death
we saw around us everyday in our ministry but this was different. It was so
real, so close and so invasive. Things like that were not allowed to enter into
our intimate circle but it did and it broke us.
This time it wasn't the Africans who were the broken people
or us broken for them but it was us who were broken and in need of repair. That's
not what we went to Africa for. We were
sent to mend the broken hearted not be the broken hearted. It was very much
a switch of what we though was our purpose but it made us rely on God so much
more than we would have, and even thought we could, and in turn brought us
closer together, and more importantly, closer to Christ.
Sarah's death is one of those situations where you can
confidently say that through it God got the glory, that in it self is something
so beautiful. Instead of allowing us to reside in our grief He gives himself
glory, provides endless ways for us to praise Him, and then in turn pours joy
into our broken hearts. God is so good. I can also confidently say that many
people have heard of Sarah's story, which so beautifully points to God. Sarah's
story cannot be told without sharing about Africa, and sharing about God's
love. I honestly pray that someday, sooner or later, when God calls me home
that like Sarah all the lines of my story will point to Christ. Down to every
letter and every comma. I praise Him for putting her in my life, even for such
a brief season.
Me and Sarah at the Market in Manzini when she visited us from Port Elizabeth.
When you ask me "How
was Africa?" and I say "good," I admit, that is not the truth. There is no
one word or phrase that can sum up utter grief, complete joy, and all
imaginable emotions in between. Not to mention immeasurable spiritual growth
and the constant desire to be there even still. If you find such a word let me
know, but until then things like awesome, and If I could hop on a plane
right now back to Swaziland, I would, will have to suffice.
I was listening to a song the other day, God of This City by Chris Tomlin, and I think that was the moment it truly hit me. On our time, I have less than one month left in Swaziland. Less than thirty days with my beautiful family. Only six official days left at the care point. Three church services at The Faithful Church of Jesus Saviour in Swaziland. Two more days with the beautiful women at the market and at the youth centre and only two Mondays left at Make Peggy's. Can you imagine?
The time has flown by, I can scarcely believe it and although I am terribly sad that we will soon be leaving I have to praise God in that He is so much bigger than time. He can do more in these last few weeks of ministry than He has done the whole time we have been in Africa. He can do more in one day of ministry than we could ever think possible. We worship a God that is not run by time, a God that is outside of time, and a God that is bigger than time but yet his timing is always perfect. He is the beginning and the end.
You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You Are
You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are
For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here
You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all kings
You Are
You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You Are
For greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In this city
When glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for You and love for You
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here
There are greater things still to be done in Swaziland and I know God is working in this broken country. I ask for prayer for Swaziland. Pray that the ears of the people would be opened and that their hearts would be soft to accept the love that their heavenly father is trying to pour down on them. Also pray for my team. That we would be intentional in ministry and that we would work hard until the very end. God has plans for these next few weeks and I pray that we will be tuned to where He is leading us with them. He is King of this nation.
This little girl's name is Julietta and she carries her sister like that to the care point everyday. The baby is actually scared of white people so she has always cried when I went near her but the other day I actually got to hold her, no crying involved, and she almost fell asleep. It was pretty exciting.
This is Alisha. If I could/had to pick only one child to take home with me I would pick Alisha. She is amazing and absolutely adorible. The very first day that my team went to the care point we had to pick buddies and Alishe was mine. We have been buddies ever since.
This is Nosepho. She is almost always at the care point and she loves to give kisses on the cheek. She sits with me every week at church on Sunday.
Well this blog was my attempt to post a bunch of pictures of my kids at the care point but alas internet in Swaziland is frustrating to say the least so I only have a few for you. I will try to upload a few more next time.
I have realised that I have neglected to write about my Monday afternoon ministry; Make Peggy's. Make (ma-gay) means mother in Siswati and that is exactly what this woman is.
We met Make Peggy on a team ministry day when all of us went to her house to plant her garden. She had originally had one but it was ruined from bad weather so she had no vegetables to feed her family. My team spent the day tilling the ground, planting and playing with her kids. At one point it had started to rain in torrents so everyone was covered in mud and dirt but yet smiles still covered our faces. Make is one of those special people you can't possibly not smile around because her joy of the Lord is contagious; even in the rain. On that day I had the privilege of doing profiles of her kids for Children's Cup so they could get sponsorship and be able to go to school and through it I learned a lot about each of their pasts. Every single child has a story. Not the typical kind of story that involves a mom and dad and brothers and sisters, houses, toys, soccer practices, school etc. but the kind of story that people shake their head about when they read it in the news paper and then push to the back of their memory because if they truly thought about it they would probably become depressed. Or even worse feel responsible and have to do something about it. Through learning about them I fell in love with the kids and now myself and my friend Sarah Taylor go there every week and try to help as much as we can. God brought us to her house to plant a garden but He used her and her kids to plant seeds in our hearts so much more.
Make is a short, stout, loving, black woman of God who thinks my name is Angeline and won't call me anything different. She has been given a piece of Gods heart for the mistreated, misused, and malnourished children of Swaziland and has opened up her home in the township to help as many as she can. There are currently ten children she looks after who, as I said, all have backgrounds of rape, abandonment, and mistreatment. For many she had to fight to get permission from the parent(s) to look after their child while others wilfully gave them to her. A few of the kids didn't have parents at all, were completely alone and had to beg for food. Without the open arms of Make Peggy they would probably be dead. Her home is truly a place where Christ resides and is given the glory.
What our ministry looks like most of the time is specifically just loving on the kids. We play games with them, read to them, draw with them and try to help them with their English. In turn they love us unconditionally. A pretty good trade I think. I have been so touched by the lives of these kids and the joy that they have even though they have been through so much. God is definitely working in Swaziland and He is using people like Make Peggy to do it.
Please pray for this beautiful family. Thanks God for the light that Make is and for the joy that surrounds their house. Please pray for good health and continued blessing and also that Sarah and I will be able to truly help this family. Thank you so much!
