Standing outside at sunset I watched the day slowly sink over the hills in the distance. The cool air we have become so accustom to, creeping in around me. Another day of ministry in SA is gone. The question? Did we use it wisely? We have been setting up our own ministries this week. It has been such a change from the last three weeks of getting up early and going to kids camp. Our days were set for us from sun up to sun down.
Many of the things we have attempted to set up seem to fall through. We have been working on a few legacy projects from three weeks ago. We have been buying blankets and shoes for kids from our first week of camp. We also went to visit a local hospital. We had prayed for God to lead us to the people he wanted us to minister to. God took care of this in his own way like he always does. We were told we couldn’t come in that day even though we had previously been told it would be no problem. We weren’t sure what to do so we stood outside and prayed for the patients and staff. There was a man waiting for his ride so we thought, lets see if he needs prayer. We gave him one of the cards the girls made with bible verses on them and prayed for him. He sat and read and re-read the verse on it as his tears stained the card.
We also prayed for Christina, a lady who had just moved to an old age home. She broke down and cried when we prayed for her. She only has one daughter who is too busy to come see her. We told her we would come visit her the next day. She thanked us and we left.
The next day we went downtown Pretoria to visit Christina. We only had the intersection that she lived at so we had to do a little hunting to find the nursing home. We found Christina just finishing dinner. She had a look of shock and bewilderment on her face. At first I don’t think she remembered us. Then I think she was amazed that we had come.
As we sat and talked with Christina, it became obvious that she just needed someone to listen. She took us to see her room and Hugo our friend from Alabanza read the bible to her in Afriaakans. Some of the team went and talked to other residents down the hall. These people don’t get many, if any visitors. If we had gotten into the hospital that day, we would have never had the opportunity to meet these people on the 5th floor in downtown Pretoria. God messed up our plans for the day with His. I’m so glad we stopped and listened. I have been endeavoring to listen to what God has to say, but to be very transparent it has been a real struggle for me lately.
This brings me back to the sunset I was watching as I prayed. As the sun set over the hills God asked me what about the stars? My first thought was what stars they aren’t out yet? But as I began to pray I understood what He was trying to tell me. The stars are always there. They don’t go anywhere. I couldn’t see the stars because of the sun, or in my life the things I was concentrating on. Gods voice or leading is always there just like the stars. I just have to step back from my problems and projects long enough to hear him. This
is my goal for the foreseeable future, to shut up and listen long enough for God to speak to me. For those of you who know me well this could prove to be a challenge. But for now I think I’ll just here and be quiet…
