Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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It was Friday morning and I didn’t know what to do.  


 


Our squad was leaving the Philippines and flying to Thailand in less than 15 hours. Ministry had “officially ended� two days ago, meaning I shouldn’t be on the van headed to the feeding at Tent City in a few hours. But I have to go back, yearned my heart.


















 


 



 

I sat on my pallet on the balcony and debated.

 


My debate turned to tears.


My tears turned to prayer.

My prayer turned to scripture.

 


John 6:40 flooded my mind.


 

 

 

 

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day�

 


It was that simple. I had to go back. Jesus, all I want to do is tell her about YOU.


 


I didn’t know if she would be there, but I had to hope. If she was, all I wanted to do was sit on her pallet and show her she was not alone or forgotten. I wanted to let her know there is a God who loves her and is the source of all comfort and peace. The longing that drew me back to her was one of the strongest desires I can remember ever feeling.


 


Needless to say, a few hours later I was on the van headed to Tent City. 


  

 

 

The mood in the room was different this time. There was still pain; still disease. And yet, there was the presence of hope. After the nurse cleaned and bandaged, Cara, Tracy, and I gathered around the woman, took hold of her hands and began to pray. During my prayer my words turned to weeping. Yes, weeping. To this day, I have no idea what came out of my mouth…they weren’t really my words anyway…but I felt them. I felt the Holy Spirit move though me and pour out grace and love to the woman. In my soul, joy and hope welled up to a point where I thought they might explode out of me. I looked into her eyes and I knew she felt the same joy.

 


The Joy of Salvation


 The Hope of Eternity


 The Peace knowing this world is not our home.


 


 I don’t know what God’s plan is for this woman. He may heal her. He may want her in eternity with Him. All I know is that in that moment we were doing what we were put on this planet to do: Love each other. And not the “worldly” kind of love, but the deep, true, sacrificial love Jesus showed us on the cross. I didn’t know this woman before Wednesday, but I felt such love for her in that moment it overwhelmed me. The thing I wanted more than anything else in the world was for that woman to know the love and peace of Jesus Christ. And I truly believe she did. I felt it. My teammates felt it. Everyone in the room felt it. God was in that place and His peace enveloped us all.


 


When this woman goes to her true home, to her true Father, I know this is the picture that awaits her:


 


…only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:9