This past weekend the Panda Rangers had the privilege of partnering with the local church called El Aciete de Uncion. This opportunity has filled my heart with so much joy and love. While we came to serve the church, they in turn served us in ways that truly showed the love of Jesus. From the moment of our arrival the hospitality of these beautiful people was overwhelming. We were the first missionaries to come to this church. So while I felt a huge responsibility to leave a good impression and meet their expectations, I also had peace that God was in control. We partnered with the church for door-to-door evangelism, intercession, youth ministry, worship, preaching, and street evangelism.
The day before we were to leave for the church, we were asked to lead the youth meeting. I was excited! Youth…great! I love working with children and learning from them. While we’re discussing what we should do (skit, testimony, message, worship), we decide to pray and ask for God to reveal who should speak the message and testimony. A few of my teammates said they felt God told them I should speak. Immediately I was full of fear.
The past few weeks I have been struggling with feeling heard on my team. There have been moments where I’ve spoken and no one heard me or other times when in the middle of my sentence the other person would look around and forget they were speaking to me. This has been an ongoing insecurity in my life. So, the fact that these feelings and experiences followed me on the race frustrated me even more! When they suggested I speak, I thought “What’s the point? My own team doesn’t hear me, how could God use me in front of a church?” I voiced these concerns and as I was talking I felt God tell me “You came on the race to show others my love. You desire to show others my goodness. You want to make me known. Here is your opportunity. Let me show you how I care for you. Let me show you that I am with you.” As I prayed I wrestled with my fear and insecurity, yet I had a peace that me being obedient to speak, in spite of my feelings. This would be an opportunity for God to move and I didn’t want to miss Him. So that night I told my teammates I am willing to speak the message. We prayed for God to tell us what we should talk about and we felt Him say family, so our skit and message was on the prodigal son and Alli shared her testimony.
On the drive to the church our host was telling us that she wants us to talk about missions and encourage the church to reach out to others. She also stressed that if God told us to talk about something else we should listen to Him. However, doubt began to seep in. Uh-oh. Is the church expecting to hear about missions and the great commission? Did we hear correctly when God spoke to us about family? Should I change what I thought God wanted me to talk about since she seems convinced it’s missions. Did I really hear from God or am I listening to Him like others listen to me? I continued to pray and ask for clarity, yet all I heard was silence. So, I pleaded with God to speak through me and have His will be done. We decided to stick to what we felt God told us.
After the Youth meeting we were spending time with everyone, playing games, talking, and eating dinner. One lady approached us and said this was the first service her brother has been to in a while, and he brought his girlfriend. She was encouraged because instead of staying in the back and keeping to himself, he was involved in the games we played and stayed the whole service. Another lady shared how her daughter is struggling with feelings of anger and sadness because of her father’s choices and during the service her daughter was attentively listening and nodding along. Also many people came up to us and we were able to share more in depth about what God has done in our lives and our calling to the World Race. Conversations of missions and sharing God’s love were all around that night.
The next day we split up into smaller groups and went to church members homes to encourage and pray for them. It was amazing to see how us being vulnerable and obedient the night before allowed us to hear more of these people’s stories. God spoke to them and in return we were able to specifically pray for them and their families. We also were given the privilege of hearing our hosts’ testimonies and how God has brought healing and pursued their hearts. The authenticity and love in the midst of heartache and struggles was incredibly humbling and encouraged me to keep pursuing to be more like Jesus.
Luke 15
Through the parable of the prodigal son, God showed me how He far exceeds our expectations. While the younger son was only hoping to be his father’s servant, he was welcomed with open arms, fully forgiven, and accepted into the family. The father in the parable shows us how strong God’s love for us is, that even though we sin God is expectantly waiting for us to choose Him by repenting, so that He can celebrate us choosing to be a part of His family.
