Back in January, I met Josh and his wife Bri while I was in the Philippines. He was one of the team leaders and had one of those personalities that was just easy and natural to get along with. Since then, I’ve tried to follow Josh and Bri’s stories as they’ve continued on the World Race and it’s been a blessing to see how they are not only developing an incredible foundation for their marriage, but they’re being the hands and feet for heaven. I’m always thankful and gracious to see people take off on a journey like this, but I’m sure it’s on a totally different level when marriage is involved.
One memory that I will always keep with me is when Josh came and joined me in the jail one day. He is not only a talented musician, but he understands worship and knows how to lead people into that environment. The few weeks prior, one cell had been asking me to come and teach them how to worship. Singing may have been a talent of mine when I was younger, but that skill left with my childhood. Luckily for me, Josh came around and after a couple of conversation, he was ready to come. So he grabbed his guitar and notebook of songs and set up shop with cell 5. Not ten minutes later, I could hear the chorus echoing through the halls as cell 5 was belting out the new song Josh was teaching them, and the rest of the cells were at the edge of the bars trying to catch what Josh was giving out.
That was the first day I just sat and was overwhelmed at what God was doing in that jail. That dream and vision is much bigger than me and I was beginning to see just a glimpse of what God was doing. Now, Josh and Bri are in Africa as their squad continues to work their way back around to the US. I wanted to share this one blog with you I just read and also give you a link to their blog. Again, I can’t stress enough how meaningful a random comment can be from a stranger. It helps us to realize the Body of Christ is so much bigger and the work we’re doing isn’t meaningless. Here’s one of their stories…
Beautifully Broken..
This past week we went to a home
for the disabled.
It was overwhelming as we walked in and saw the number of
patients. We helped feed the patients and gave them our time and love. It was
heartbreaking to look at all these people and just think about their lives.
Many of them were sent here because their parents either didn’t want them or
couldn’t care for them.
I cried out
to God, “God, what is the purpose of this?! I don’t understand..” I grabbed a
plate and sat down next to Angela so I could feed her.
It was difficult on a
many levels. She was severely crippled and had a hard time just chewing her
food. But as I sat there, God began to show me a glimpse of His purpose. “It’s for my glory,”~ I heard Him whisper. These
are my little children and I love them just the same!
And
as we were there I
began to see it more clearly. They had such a love, and even though some
of
them didn’t have the capacity to talk, or move, or even comprehend~ you
could
still see God’s love through them… They were still His creation, and
they were here for His purpose. What was even more amazing was how they
responded to the
name of Jesus. We would pray with them and sing to them and every time
they
would hear the name of Jesus a big smile would follow.
Some would even hoot and
holler a little. Josh sang some songs to the girl he was feeding and when he
got to “Jesus loves me” the girl lit up with a big smile and some laughter.
It
was almost as if God was showing all of us the power in Jesus’ name and that
even these children and adults recognized it’s worth. Hey…the Bible does say
that EVERY knee will bow and EVERY TONGUE will confess that Jesus is Lord!
As sad as
it was, I left there so filled. I experienced such a deep love that day. I now had a new picture of God’s love for us.
While they were broken, messy, and unable to take care of themselves, you
couldn’t look at them and not love them.
And that is how God looks at us. We
are broken in this world, messy with sin, and unable to rescue ourselves. But
as God sees us in our helplessness, He can’t help but love us and have
compassion on us! This love, what a love… Where He looks past all of our
imperfections, and lavishes us with His perfect love.
This
experience will be burned into my heart forever. As we visited each of
them they would get so excited and even more so when we took pictures and
showed them! They were beautifully broken~ and as I spent time with them… So
was I.
