I remember asking my church family for prayer on the first Sunday in December because the Philippine Islands were being hit by Typhoon Ruby as we spoke. Although I didn’t know where I would be doing ministry in January the lady behind me almost prophetically spoke, “That’s why you are going to the Philippines; to serve by giving relief to those victims.”
The Place:
Van-> the Lighthouse -> 6 hour van ride-> Somar
Typhoon Ruby was estimated to be worse than Yolanda the year earlier. In three hours, prayer requests from around the nations were flooding the ears of God. In 12 hours, the typhoon went from a category five to a category three. People say, “Satan was trying to have a field day and the people of God fought back and claimed the victory.” There was flooding and minor damages in Tacloban but the neighboring island, Somar was not as fortunate. The eye hit on Somar and wreaked havoc.
Upon arriving at the Lighthouse we were informed that the beginning of our visit we would be making relief packages and delivering them to the farther parts of Somar, where other relief items had not been sent yet. For roughly 4 days, we were busy at work making packages for families: a tooth brush, toothpaste, soap, rice, sardines, some sort of seasoning and meat, a wash cloth and various other items. There were over 2,000 individual packages that we were going to deliver to specific towns.
The drive was rough. Not rough because it was hot and there were many of us in a small space. Rough because as we drove deeper and deeper into Somar it became apparent how much these people have been through. Many roads were caved in. There were landslides along others. On some roads people put out signs that read, “WE NEED HELP. NEED FOOD.”
The People:
If I was in their shoes I would have found some corner, crawled into a ball, and cried myself dead. Honestly… but not these warriors. Disaster struck and they endured, found strength and began to rebuild. These people are resilient.
As we pulled over and our contacts discussed details, our van was quickly flooded with smiling faces of children. I had the opportunity to talk with an 8th grade girl who spoke English fluently. She was sweet and informed us the other children were laughing and happy because we were pale skinned and beautiful. She later informed me that she lost her dad in the typhoon and now her family is very poor because her mom stays home with the young babies and cannot work. Her older brother works for the military and sends money back to the family. When he comes home he tells the family about Jesus. My heart broke because it was time to leave this little girl. As we pulled away she followed the van and I could hear her voice fading in the distance, “I will never forget you, Jessie, Don’t forget me…”
The Process:
My heart hurts when I go to sleep at night. I cannot imagine life without my dad, without a roof over my head, without food to eat for days. Yet, I’ve only caught a glimpse of this pain through my new friend and she had more joy than I could even absorb.
The Father is giving me a new spirit of thankfulness.
Not only is He teaching me through the people but He is teaching me what total dependence on His word actually looks like.
It was around 9pm and we were at our second to last stop of the night in Somar. It was a pastors house. I finally realized that I wasn’t going to be able to refrain from using the bathroom for another 24 hours like I mentally prepared to do. I HAD to go…if you catch my drift. (So remember how I originally blogged about my fear of snakes, spiders and the dark… Yeah, that didn’t go away.) A few of us girls were lead to the CR (comfort room) of the pastors house. (Back corner of a dimly lit room with a pot. EK!) As I waited with one of my teammates (we had to go in pairs so one could hold the flashlight for the other) we noticed an abnormally large spider crawling on the curtain (door) that we just passed under. I lost it. Like I think I started to cry. I was legitimately shaking with fear and thought I could not take another step.
In my head I heard, “Jess,”
To which I replied, “not now, God, I’m kinda freaking out!”
Again, “Jessica Rose, I have not given you a spirit of fear. I have given you a spirit of power, of strength and of sound mind. Greater is he that is in you than he that is of the world…”
Deep breath, deep breath… Still crying, I used the CR and booked it out of there real quick. I didn’t die. His words spoke truth into my soul and as I processed I began to think… why do I allow the enemy to have that power over me when I know that God is for me?
In Peter, it talks about a roaring lion walking about seeking whom it may devour. That lions roar is paralyzing, then when his victim is so afraid he cannot move a muscle, the lion can enjoy his meal.
BAM! For too long I have allowed the lions roar to paralyze me in my fear! For too long I have caved under the fear of the wrong lion when there is another lion that fights on my behalf. It’s not that I am no longer afraid of the dark or spiders or snakes but I am going to choose to rely on the Lion of Judah and the truth He speaks over me. You see, lions cannot coexist without one having greater authority. I am going to make a conscious decision to place the authority in the hands of my victor, my comforter and my protector, the Lion of Judah.
The Prayers:
-praise God for the people who gave money so the relief supplies could be purchased
-praise God we made it safely to Somar
-pray for those people still hurting who lost everything
-praise for the people who donated for my trip that I could be part of this experience
-pray for the few Christians in Somar who are being lights for those hurting
