Our ministry contacts is rocking my world…Andrew, the pastor of the church and our contact, is 25 years old and his wife is 24. You would not guess his age by looking at his life…he has been pastor of this small church for 3 years and his whole life is dedicated to doing God’s will and serving others in love…Andrew receives 130 American dollars per month for him, his wife, and 15 month old…other than that Andrew relies on the Lord to provide for his needs. Everyone we have met in Moldova although they do not have much themselves they pour out everything from their cabinets to make a beautiful dinner for us with everything they have…we do house visits every night where we go into peoples homes from the church and visit with them and encourage one another as a body of believers and just spend time together! When we sat down for dinner and sister Nina had prepared for us a beautiful spread of one half slice of bread, cheese, and meat on top and a small bowl of tasty cookies and tea my heart was so humbled. As I looked in her cabinets to see she had poured out all she had…and waited until everyone had eaten first to see if there was even enough for her to eat….
This is the closest thing I have ever seen to living like an Acts 2 body of believers…people pour out all that they have to give to those who are in need, are hungry, or are thirsty before thinking of themselves…I have never known what it is like to give all I had and trust God to provide for me the next day…I have never even truly known what it is like to be hungry…
….We break bread with these believers all around the world and praise the Lord for what he has provided for us each day…we live with our hands open and empty, giving what we have and watching the Lord continue to show up and provide in amazing ways…
My mindset has changed so much these last 2 months…it is no longer about what I can hold onto in my pack, it is about listening to the Lord’s voice in all things and if he calls me to give anything that I have, listen. I want nothing, not money, not things, not clothing, not my shoes, none of the “precious” things I am provided comfort by to ever be held onto if others have need for them or God calls me to give them…(and to all my middle school friends, yes this means giving up your jacket 🙂
Here is one story about this…while on the airplane going to Romania from Ireland I sat down next to a girl and guy my age (I actually sat in the wrong seat but it was a divine appointment!) and from the moment I sat down I knew God was working and could feel the Spirit inside of me already drawn to them and loving them…me and girl my age became fast friends and both of them were wonderful! We spent 3 hours talking about life and the Lord…they had showed me a camera they had bought still in the box, their first picture of me and the girl…they did not have enough money to purchase a camera case and talked about how they would purchase one later when they had more money. At the end of our ride together I said if you could choose a color camera case what would you choose, they said black, as I leaned down and handed them a black camera case perfectly fitting their camera their mouths dropped open…the Lord had provided me with this black camera case and I was excited because my pink one is frustrating and hard to get the camera out of but when I went to ditch the pink one I heard the Lord clearly saying keep both and I will show you what to do with them…realizing God always has a plan I trusted in his voice and carried two camera cases with me for a few days…even still I was still amazed at how God set everything up and through this divine appointment he provided a camera case for a young couple who didn’t have the money to buy one and it was a gift from Him…I told them this is from the Lord just for you! I’ll never forget that day. I could tell you many stories of ones just like this one I have encountered since being on the world race…
FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, SO FREELY GIVE
