Africa is beautiful. Africa is colorful. Africa is very different, but also so much like home. We are living in Abidjan this month and are blessed with the hospitality.
When I came on the race I expected to have one specific ministry each month, the word expected should have been a dead give away for me. Each day has looked entirely different and I’m learning that flexibility is key. So far our ministry has looked like playing with neighborhood kids at the park down the street from our villa, worshiping with the youth at our church in true African fashion, evangelizing at the brand new shopping mall in town, spending time with our contacts at their favorite after church spot, watching the kids of two full time American missionaries who were in desperate need of child care, and praying for healing in the pediatric wing of the local government hospital.
Explaining our ministry and work this month is hard because frankly we get picked up each day with no clear information on what the day will bring. Our days have been teaching us all a very valuable lesson, that will be key when moving on throughout the race. Ministry is viewed by many people as feeding the hungry, loving on orphans, and making a visible, tangible difference. It’s time for people to move past that mindset. Yes, those are so important and we are called to do all of those things, but sometimes the greatest ministry is building relationships and loving people where they are.
One of my favorite days so far was when we were taken to the local government hospital in Abidjan. We were under the impression that we would just be visiting and walking around the campus, but when we arrived we were taken to the Pediatric wing to visit patients and pray over their bodies for healing. I’ll be honest this was hard for me at first, I don’t like hospitals and I immediately began to think about all the germs I would be coming in contact with. Along with these fears I began to feel unqualified because I have never prayed over a person and asked God to flat out heal them.
We were able to talk to many different families. Many of the children were sick with Malaria, TB, Sickle Cell, blood diseases, and other ailments that hadn’t been diagnosed. Having this ability to pray over them was a completely humbling experience. I truly believe that God can heal people and has healed people, but it was really hard to pray for person after person and have no idea if our prayers are being answered. I can only sit back and trust in these situations. I’m working on realizing that I may never know if a miracle occurred there and if any of our patients were healed. This is all in God’s hands and he has control. I desperately pray that when these kids get better they remember the prayers prayed over them and thank God for working in their lives.
Not all of the families we met that day were Christians and even some of the ones who were Christians hadn’t really accepted the Lord as their savior. It was once again humbling to plant seeds and share the Lord’s love through sitting and getting to know others. Many of the Muslim families we met that day did not want us to pray for them, but others were a lot more receptive. One mothers said we couldn’t pray over her child in the room because her husband wasn’t there and he has to make that call. We asked about praying for her daughter at home later and she graciously accepted.
Another mother we met was Muslim, but she was so interested in learning about Christ while we sat in her room. She was receptive and explained that she wanted to make a decision for herself and wanted to feel the pull from God so she would know if this was right for her. Please pray that the seeds planted continue to grow and be multiplied in her life. Just as we were walking out of the hospital a women heard we were there and asked if we could pray for her child. We explained that we were Christians and that we would love to. Even though she was Muslim she was so thankful that we prayed for healing.
We may not always be able to see the fruit of our work and ministry may not look like anything we would have expected, but God is doing so much here in Africa. From this point on I’m vowing to drop expectations, let go of how I used to view ministry, and trust that the Spirit is leading us on an incredible journey.
