I’ve mentioned before that when staring the ugly statistics of trafficking in the face (27 million victims worldwide), it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and the enemy wants nothing more than to make us believe we can’t make a difference. Yet through Christ, we ABSOLUTELY can make a difference. If in the four months we’re serving we bring the hope, light, truth and love of Christ to one person, then the entire trip is worth it. Because Jesus changes lives. His Love is unstoppable and can break EVERY chain the enemy has created. We may have days when we feel nothing but heartache, but every single moment is a moment we are not serving alone. Christ is right there beside us, and His Holy Spirit will be moving in power, even if we can’t see the affects of His glory all of the time. He wants us to go as His hands and feet. He wants us to love and bring His message to the world. What happens from there is all in His hands, and everything is in His control.
This past June I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Kenya with a group from my church. Some of us went to two different schools and presented a Vacation Bible School to about 800 students total. The first school we went to was very well-disciplined, attentive and knowledgable of the Bible. The second school? Not so much. More like chaos with an occasional moment of quiet tossed in. I can’t speak for my teammates, but I felt pretty defeated after leaving that school and felt no one even heard what we had to say.
Fast forward to seven weeks ago. The Lord rocked my socks off by sending myself and two friends back to Kenya for more intentional ministry with the staff of the Masaai Ostrich Farm and their families. The families all live close to the Farm, so we were able to meet many of the children and spend time with them. We did another Vacation Bible School, and after the first day a teenage girl named Lillian came up to me. She said, “you were here earlier this year, right?” I told her I was and she said I had come to her school. She then repeated, word-for-word, Jeremiah 29:11 to me, which was the focus of the lesson I had given, and also talked about Psalm 139, which was the other part of the lesson. What school was she at? Yup, you guessed it. The second one. I was awestruck. I had left her school in June with a heavy heart, and a few months later the Lord reminded me that we are called to go and serve, and He takes care of the details, like whether or not any of the kids paid attention. It was such an awesome reminder of the power of Christ. We may or may not see the affects of ministry, but we still go.
Can one person make a difference? Absolutely. Is one person worth this trip? Absolutely. 🙂
