God is the divine orchestrator.
"For I know the Plans I have for you" Jer 29:11
One thing I am really learning and discovering about God is how true that statement really is-especially for my life. He KNOWS the PLANS He has for US. FOR US! He is the divine orchestrator. I am really looking back at periods of my life and just seeing how God orchestrated it and how perfectly it worked out because it was God's will and He was in it and beside me in it. He orchestrated it. He is so faithful to us and the plans He has for us. He knows how to piece everything together to fit together so perfectly.He is God our creator- He is all knowing. It never ceases to amaze me how everything fits together so perfectly. and I am really loving discovering that over and over while I have been in South Africa and even my journey to South Africa-it all fits so perfectly-His plan for me has been perfectly planned since before I was born ah! God is the divine orchestrator. He orders our steps. He won't let us miss the wonderful and good things has has for us. We can put ALL our hope in Him and we will never be disappointed. He brings all things together for our good.There is such an assurance when we walk with our Papa. He is so loving and knows exactly what we need. We can throw ourselves on his promises-I can throw myself on His promises-His sweet promises. He is the divine orchestrator. He created us in our innermost being-He KNOWS us and He KNOWS what we need and He KNOWS what He is going to give us.
With that said the reason why I am writing this blog is to update you on my life this last week in South Africa, and how sweet it is that God is the divine orchestrator of my life but to keep a very long story short i am sharing the recent revelation of His orchestration.
A month before I left for South Africa I prayed the prayer...
"God I want new things-I want to be stripped of my comfort zones- I want to be challenged by you and fashioned into who you created me to be" -
the answer came 20 seconds into my plane ride. I was struck with immediate homesickness and fear. It was rough-but I just immediately started praying for His peace and comfort. I had to tell myself that and pray that quite a bit and battle homesickness during my first week here-but of course the Lord came through-with much help from family and friends and PRAYER. God and I talked a lot that week. So back to my prayer- I asked God for these things and oh man he has answered them and it has not been easy in fact it has been really hard, but it has been that good kinda hard-the I love this kind of hard because you just know that the end result is so defining and so SO good and so healing and brings you into a more deeper intimate relationship with God.
God began to really speak over me and my heart a heart and vision for Muslims and that He was going to begin to cultivate that vision and heart in me-well i immediately responded (not well i will admit) "well if that is true God then that is all you baby you are really going to have to make that known and do some major construction in my heart"-I was terrified. so of course He answers immediately- He sticks me in Oceanview with no one i know and Oceanview happens to be one the most Muslim populated townships in Capetown and then for the last 4 weeks directs me to Muslims every time I meet someone- almost everyone I have met in Oceanview has been Muslim. crazy how God does things! Well when they announced the outreach places i for sure thought okay I am either going to Zambia or Zimbabwe-kids! that was an easy choice for me. I have always had a huge passion and heart for children's ministry and speaking truth and love over kids! I for sure thought the Lord was going to send me to Zambia (that would be too easy wouldn't it?. When I sat down to pray about it I kept hearing Zanzibar. I thought unreached Muslims? Seriously God. I have no idea what I am doing. But He kept saying Zanzibar so I put my name down on the Zanzibar list. and I also put my name down for Zambia. While all this was going on with outreach- I started really asking the Lord for friendships here-for people to have a heart connect with. The Lord really came through. I connected with two of the married women-Meehan and Lindsey and Lindsey's two girls Macy and Nali. It was so good for my heart to finally feel like I was making some friends here-that I had a community here. So two days ago they announced the outreach teams and I am officially going to Zanzibar. It is 97% Muslim nation-completely unreached and unengaged. And exactly opposite of what I ever planned on doing-but the crazy thing is-the Lord has already really started stirring my heart for Muslims and has given me an incredible heart that yearns to just love and build relationship with them. My team is made up of 12 people and 2 kids-literally everyone on my team are the people I have connected best with since being here, Meehan and Lindsey are part of my team-which also means my two favorite kids here Macy and Nali are going as well. The Lord has put our team together so perfectly. I am already obsessed with my team and really feel connected and bonded to them. He is the divine orchestrator.
So a day after my birthday (April 22 for those who don't know) so April 23 I will be departing for Zanzibar until June 18! I am super terrified but equally excited for what the Lord is going to do.
I love that He is the divine orchestrator. so amazing. and so amazing that my team and I can completely trust in that truth. HE IS THE DIVINE ORCHESTRATOR.
I will definitely send more information and prayer requests out the more that I know. Right now I know VERY little.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Lord is moving in Oceanview
Some stories from Oceanview:
We met with a Muslim family and talked with the mother of the household,Chitcha-she is amazing. I started asking her about the Muslim faith and what not and the Lord really opened the door to talk about Jesus. But here is where it gets crazy ahhhh. Ok so David(the married couple i walk around with is David and Shannon) After we had been in their house for awhile just having casual conversation David was praying that the Lord would open the door so that we could talk about Jesus-and he told us later that as he prayed that Noah(Chitcha's brother-who was a lot harder to talk to) got up from across the room where he was sitting next to Chitcha- to go talk to David about Muslim cleansing rituals and other things concerning the Muslim faith. While David and Noah were talking-Shannon and I talked to Chiticha and as we were talking to her about Jesus, Chitcha comes out and says...oh man wait for it....that she believes that JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR HER SINS ahhhhhh. so good. We talked for the next hour with her about Jesus. And she invited us to come back-so this past Sunday (March 7) we went back to talk to her for about another 40 minutes and got to pray for her and a lot of family drama that is going on right now. She really opened up to us about her struggles and hopelessness. It was so good to be able to speak and pray God's truth, hope, and love over her! And we get to go back next Sunday to see her!
We also went into a new part of Oceanview called Mountainview. It is the really poor part of Oceanview. Most of the people in Oceanview live in houses-but in Mountainview they lives in Shacks made out of cereal boxes or anything they can find to make a home out of. They live in Mountainview because like Masi's wetlands they were promised land by the government and like Masi the government never followed through on that promise-so they live in awful living conditions. so we went up into that community. I walked around with the women on my team. We met this woman Erica and her family. We talked to Erica for awhile and then I asked her if she needed prayed for anything and she said yes...so we went into her house to pray for her and some other woman. Their main prayer request was for jobs(that is the prayers request you most often hear amongst the people in the townships).We got done praying and I asked Erica if she knew Jesus and she says "Yes YES-I love Jesus-He is my savior-my lover-my everything, I live my life for Him" and then begins to tell us this crazy story....her father last year was dying of TB-in the hospital room-the doctors said he had minutes to live-and so her response is to grab oil and she anointed his face- touched him and said be healed in the name of Jesus and he stood up and walked out of the hospital room got tested and DOES NOT HAVE TB. ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! and he gave his life to Jesus and is getting baptized Sunday.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhHHH!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!
so back to present day:
We are talking to Erica and we ask her to say a prayer over us and she starts praying a super power, spirit filled prayer it was AMAZING and LEGIT. and while she is praying her father who was healed from TB comes in and starts praying over us. oh man it was awesome. She then proceeds to tell us after she is done praying that she does house church in Mountainview and 4 days a week stands outside and any person that walks by she tells them about Jesus! sooooo amazing! so I really want to walk around with Erica next week and do evangelism with her-and i asked her if she would want to walk around and she said...OF COURSE EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW MY BELOVED MY KING!
ahh GOD IS SOO GOOD!i am so pumped if you can't tell!!! and then we met her grand kids and I immediately fell in love with them.. I asked them if they loved Jesus and the 8 years old says...YES JESUS HEALED ME LAST YEAR-she apparently was on her death bed and Erica anointed her and prayed that she would be healed and she was!!! ahh
so then we continued walking and we met these two women who were also on fire for God and they lead bible studies in their home! so good soo good. when one of the girls on our team asked them what would help fix Mountainview-one of the women Loraine's response was "Jesus"-she said if Mountainview could come to know Jesus and could be united in seeking His kingdom then they would see revival and provision in Mountainview. Seriously these women were rocking my world.
and then we met Denise and she loves Jesus but her husband is Muslim. She told us that she felt like the Lord told her she was suppose to be married to him and to be faithful. She said when she first met him the Lord told her it was going to be a rough and rocky marriage but that if she remained faithful to God and her husband then he would bless her and her husband would come to know him through her faithfulness and they have been married 27 years and she prays everyday thatt her husband would come to know Jesus! so we got to pray over her and it was just so amazing.
So after all this we didn't know what to do next. So we started praying for direction and as we were praying these 4 teenage girls called us over and we talked to them for the next 2 hours-they braided my hair and they talked to Shannon about marriage-and asked me questions about boys and relationships and the States and what not and we are doing bible study with them on Friday at 3pm and I am so so pumped. This is where my heart gets super excited-pouring into teenage girls about their worth and identity and speaking truth and Shannon is the same way-so the two of us are so so so excited!!
so that is Oceanview today. I am getting more and more excited about Oceanview. I am really encouraged!
We met with a Muslim family and talked with the mother of the household,Chitcha-she is amazing. I started asking her about the Muslim faith and what not and the Lord really opened the door to talk about Jesus. But here is where it gets crazy ahhhh. Ok so David(the married couple i walk around with is David and Shannon) After we had been in their house for awhile just having casual conversation David was praying that the Lord would open the door so that we could talk about Jesus-and he told us later that as he prayed that Noah(Chitcha's brother-who was a lot harder to talk to) got up from across the room where he was sitting next to Chitcha- to go talk to David about Muslim cleansing rituals and other things concerning the Muslim faith. While David and Noah were talking-Shannon and I talked to Chiticha and as we were talking to her about Jesus, Chitcha comes out and says...oh man wait for it....that she believes that JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR HER SINS ahhhhhh. so good. We talked for the next hour with her about Jesus. And she invited us to come back-so this past Sunday (March 7) we went back to talk to her for about another 40 minutes and got to pray for her and a lot of family drama that is going on right now. She really opened up to us about her struggles and hopelessness. It was so good to be able to speak and pray God's truth, hope, and love over her! And we get to go back next Sunday to see her!
We also went into a new part of Oceanview called Mountainview. It is the really poor part of Oceanview. Most of the people in Oceanview live in houses-but in Mountainview they lives in Shacks made out of cereal boxes or anything they can find to make a home out of. They live in Mountainview because like Masi's wetlands they were promised land by the government and like Masi the government never followed through on that promise-so they live in awful living conditions. so we went up into that community. I walked around with the women on my team. We met this woman Erica and her family. We talked to Erica for awhile and then I asked her if she needed prayed for anything and she said yes...so we went into her house to pray for her and some other woman. Their main prayer request was for jobs(that is the prayers request you most often hear amongst the people in the townships).We got done praying and I asked Erica if she knew Jesus and she says "Yes YES-I love Jesus-He is my savior-my lover-my everything, I live my life for Him" and then begins to tell us this crazy story....her father last year was dying of TB-in the hospital room-the doctors said he had minutes to live-and so her response is to grab oil and she anointed his face- touched him and said be healed in the name of Jesus and he stood up and walked out of the hospital room got tested and DOES NOT HAVE TB. ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! and he gave his life to Jesus and is getting baptized Sunday.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhHHH!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!
so back to present day:
We are talking to Erica and we ask her to say a prayer over us and she starts praying a super power, spirit filled prayer it was AMAZING and LEGIT. and while she is praying her father who was healed from TB comes in and starts praying over us. oh man it was awesome. She then proceeds to tell us after she is done praying that she does house church in Mountainview and 4 days a week stands outside and any person that walks by she tells them about Jesus! sooooo amazing! so I really want to walk around with Erica next week and do evangelism with her-and i asked her if she would want to walk around and she said...OF COURSE EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW MY BELOVED MY KING!
ahh GOD IS SOO GOOD!i am so pumped if you can't tell!!! and then we met her grand kids and I immediately fell in love with them.. I asked them if they loved Jesus and the 8 years old says...YES JESUS HEALED ME LAST YEAR-she apparently was on her death bed and Erica anointed her and prayed that she would be healed and she was!!! ahh
so then we continued walking and we met these two women who were also on fire for God and they lead bible studies in their home! so good soo good. when one of the girls on our team asked them what would help fix Mountainview-one of the women Loraine's response was "Jesus"-she said if Mountainview could come to know Jesus and could be united in seeking His kingdom then they would see revival and provision in Mountainview. Seriously these women were rocking my world.
and then we met Denise and she loves Jesus but her husband is Muslim. She told us that she felt like the Lord told her she was suppose to be married to him and to be faithful. She said when she first met him the Lord told her it was going to be a rough and rocky marriage but that if she remained faithful to God and her husband then he would bless her and her husband would come to know him through her faithfulness and they have been married 27 years and she prays everyday thatt her husband would come to know Jesus! so we got to pray over her and it was just so amazing.
So after all this we didn't know what to do next. So we started praying for direction and as we were praying these 4 teenage girls called us over and we talked to them for the next 2 hours-they braided my hair and they talked to Shannon about marriage-and asked me questions about boys and relationships and the States and what not and we are doing bible study with them on Friday at 3pm and I am so so pumped. This is where my heart gets super excited-pouring into teenage girls about their worth and identity and speaking truth and Shannon is the same way-so the two of us are so so so excited!!
so that is Oceanview today. I am getting more and more excited about Oceanview. I am really encouraged!
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