This is a story about a beautiful woman named Maria and how God strengthened my faith through her.
We arrived at the bus station in Lima, Peru on tuesday afternoon the 1st of April after a 28 hr long bus ride. I was tired and weary but excited to be in a new country where i knew that God had big things planned for us. There had been some confusion in communication with our hosts, so we ended up having to sit at the bus station for a while before we were picked up. No worries though as there was a KFC right next door so of course we headed straight to it to endulge ourselves on some good fried chicken.
Our contacts soon arrived and we were headed to Carabayllo where we would be receiving our ministry opportunities for the month. We arrived at Iglesia Bautista Valle Del Jordan where Pastor Celso and several of the church members so warmly greeted us. To our suprise, they had arranged for us to go to a camp that the church owns about an hour away so that we could rest for a couple of days. What a relief that was as we were all exhausted. It was such a beautiful place set in a valley surrounded by mountains.
After we had rested wednesday and thursday we were ready to begin our ministry on friday. I immediately got anxious when they told us what we would be doing- passing out tracts, flyers and going door to door evangelizing. I was scared because thats typically not my most favorite thing to do and to top it off, im not exactly fluent in spanish. I knew that God wanted me to grow in it and use me for His glory but i was still questioning if i could do it. The Lord then brought the story of Jesus walking on the water to me when He asked Peter to come to Him but Peter didnt believe that Jesus was there. In Matthew 14:31 Jesus said to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” That struck me right in the heart and at that moment, i knew that Jesus would be right there with me even in my “Peter moment”.
On saturday, we came upon a house where an elderly lady named Maria was sitting outside the door. Camilla, our translator, greeted her and began to explain what we were doing. I was watching closely as emotions started to come over her when Camilla was asking if she had received Christ in her heart. She began to cry and expressed to us how she had never been saved but wanted to right then. I began to get emotional as well and felt led to pray for her and to pray healing over her body. What a beautiful moment that was. She then invited us in to her house for a soda and explained how all her children lived far away and never came to visit her so she was extremely lonely. My heart was broken for her. It was then time to move on but in that moment, on that day, God showed me that He could still use me even in my weakness.
I hope this encourages all of you reading that it doesnt matter if your faith is weak, or you are scared of certain ministries or you just dont believe that God could use you, i am here to tell you that HE CAN and HE WILL. Be bold, move off the sidelines and get in the game. We dont have time to sit idle and hope that someone else will share the love of Christ with our friends, our families, and strangers. Its my job and your job. Will you do it?
