When you write a blog and say the Lord is teaching me to find my voice and speak up, what does He do next???? He makes you team leader for the month in Sri Lanka of course!!! I am convinced that the Lord has a sense of humor!!! Sri Lanka is gender month where all the men form one team and do MANistry, and the ladies were split into new teams to do ministry together. I was approached by one of the squad leaders during debrief and asked to be a team leader this month. I quickly said yes as we had spent the last month working on having a “yes” spirit always. Then about 2mins later the panic set in!!! I thought, I can’t do this!!! And its true, I can not but God can and He as placed me in this role for a reason! So relying on His strength I embrace this new role and new country. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
My new team “Beloved” includes, Alyssa, Ariel, Erin, Leah, Lennie, and MO (Katherine). We were assigned Jaffna as our city for ministry. It is a city at the northern part of Sri Lanka. It is mostly Hindu and the language spoken is Tamil. On our first day here we met up with a local pastor who loves Jesus and was very anxious to get us involved in ministry right away. We explained that we are doing an ATL (Ask The Lord) month and would like to pray into any ministry opportunities. We typically start our day with a morning devotional going through Romans. It has been really good and has helped us open up with one another and grow together. Then we spend time in listening prayer for the day. Asking the Lord what he has for us as individuals and as a team for that day. Often times I find myself viewing prayer as a one way conversation but it is not. He wants to have a relationship with us and a conversation with us. I have really enjoyed growing in this area and my ability to hear His voice! And then we go and do what He has laid on our hearts. Luke 11:28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
The first ministry opportunity presented to us was a miracle night at a local church. We were hesitant at first to fully embrace this. But after some listening prayer we felt the Lord clearly saying “Go and share my name.” They asked us to prepare a sermon and prayer over people. As we began to pray and talk about who would preach I felt God possibly telling me to do it, but I of course did not speak up right away to share that information. So what does Jesus do? He tells my teammate that it should be me as well! Haha. I also got Ariel’s name. So with conformation Ariel and I decided to tag team it. I started us off with the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man in Mark 2:1-12 and spoke about why Jesus did miracles and of course included the telling of the gospel. Ariel followed up with sharing a personal testimony of healing we have experienced thus far on the race. It wasn’t perfect, and as the pastor told us later it wasn’t long enough, but it was good. We were obedient to Him and reliant on Him! The evening ended with us praying over individuals and their requests, and then they prayed over us and our journey. It was powerful!!! It was the first time I have had someone pray over me in tongues but what a blessing.
From us embracing that opportunity God gave us even more avenues to bless and uplift people. These are some friends we met that night and got to listen to their stories and encourage them and pray for them (and eat some very delicious food with them). God is good, and He is faithful all the time!!! Please keep me and my team in your prayers this month as we follow His call! Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
