Month 8- Bulgaria
I can’t believe that we have come so far. I remember sitting in the Philippines thinking, ‘month 8 seems so far off. Its like its never going to actually happen.’ Well I’m here now, looking back on month 1 thinking, ‘Wow, look how far we have come!’ I am sure you are probably thinking the same thing.
This month we are partnering with the non-profit organization- Mission Possible. They help out local churches that want to do something for the community. They remind of event planners, which in a way is like production! Yeah-ya!
Most of our work has to do with painting, cleaning and chiseling paint off windows to get the offices in livable condition so that they can host conferences for training staff and long and short term missionaries. In the evenings and on Sundays we visit churches, share testimonies from our travels and great things God is doing in our lives.
The first Friday we were here, we were brought to a youth service. From months past I was thinking, ‘oh- a small Bible study,’ but when we arrived I realized it was a bigger deal than that. I thought it was going to be a meet and greet- a lil question/ answer sesh. I was wrong. They wanted us up on stage (maybe I should add that there was a camera stage left) giving a full testimony about what we are doing followed by a word from the Lord.
To be frank- I was freaking out. We didn’t plan for this. We were up right after the worship segment. I had my head in my hands praying for God to reveal what it was that He wanted to share with the church. I thought of some of the pastors back at home that have said, “sometimes I am ready to go on and 10 minutes before God tells me to throw out my notes and talk about something else.” I may be amateur at public speaking, but I know that I serve the same God and that He is living in me, so I prayed for a word.
I started to sense that the people in the congregation had been going through some deep struggles and needed to refocus their eyes on the Lord, their first love. The verse in Revelation 2:3-5 came to mind. (“You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hod this aganst you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…”) I thought, ‘is this just me or is this really a message for these people?’ Something that I have learned while being on this race is that me and the team will often experience the same issues that the people of that country deal with while we are there. This time it was things not going as planned or things feeling like they are falling apart.
When God told me that He wanted me to encourage these people in this area I got super nervous. ‘What if I’m off, what if this is my words and not His? I don’t want to impress anything on them that is actually for me.’ In that moment I noticed that they were singing a favorite worship song of mine that goes, “If our God is for us, than who can ever stop us. And if our God is with us, what can stand against us?’ I knew that the enemy was trying to shut me up, so I rebuked him and got up there after the worship segment.
Since I am an open book, I shared my struggle in coming up on the stage and then shared what God had put on my heart.
(Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the actual service, but here is another church I spoke in)
When I went to go sit down after the message, our translator turned to me with tears in her eyes and said, “That is exactly what we needed to hear.”
THANK YOU JESUS! You gave me the right words just at the right time.
So blessed.
