If you read my previous post titled “Miracles” then you know
how God continually poured into our “wallets” so that we always had
enough. Not only did He provide the
funds needed to purchase materials to help complete the church floor, but He
went above and beyond that so that we could freely bless our Pohnpeian family
with gifts and surprises!! We had a
budget set aside for eating expenses, but shortly after being there we knew
that we were going to come in way below our budget, in turn enabling us to
bless Every Home for Christ with a new guitar for worship and a sewing machine
so the ladies can resume making skirts after not having a machine for 2
years. There is always enough when He is
your source! I tell you what…. these
people have been blessed with the most angelic, beautiful voices of worship I
have heard in a long time. Not just one
but ALL of them!! So, even though we
wanted to bless them with a guitar to worship with, they ended up blessing us
in return with their gift of music and passion for worship and praise. They were always doing that……..blessing us,
honoring us, and laying down their lives for us – just like Jesus!
On the evening of Wednesday, June 12, the team presented Every Home for Christ with their gifts and we celebrated God's goodness with a night of worship led by Christian and Jonas Jung. Our friend, Anthony, tested out the new guitar too. The presence of the Lord was so strong, and even when the power went out inside the church and it was completely dark, we continued to worship and dance and praise Him for how amazing and lovely He is! In fact, the intensity and passion of our worship through song only grew stronger! Here is a sample of how pure, beautiful and unadulterated our worship time was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em6njq1haT0&feature=youtu.be. At one point, not captured in this recording, I truly believe there were heavenly angels present because there was a distinct sound that I had never heard before. Many were even overcome by a spirit of joy, uncontrollable laughter and giddiness for the Lord! Psalm 146:2 talks about praising the Lord all your life; about singing praises to God as long as you live. The ultimate purpose of our lives is to love and worship God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength – with everything we have and with everything that we are. Worship is more than just singing songs to Him. It is a way of living your life so that He can be glorified through you. It is living a life that continually praises Him and declares His goodness. It’s more than mere words or a set of religious doctrine. It’s a lifestyle; a declaration of just how much you love something or someone, in this instance, God. Through our trip to Micronesia, the Lord gave me a broader understanding of what it looks like to worship Him with my life. My greatest desire when I pass from this earth is that people will know and say that I loved the Lord with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. Nothing else compares to that!
I was so
blessed to be able to Skype with my mom and kids on the morning of Thursday,
June 13th (Wednesday, June 12th for them) for 45 minutes
on and off. Sometimes we’d lose our
connection, but overall it went pretty smoothly. Granted, their webcam wasn’t working right so
they could only see us but not hear, and we couldn’t see nor hear them. Josh and I had some fun doing silly dances
for them and making funny faces. In our
spirits we could sense their laughter and hearts of joy, and that’s what was
most important to us! I would write short
messages on a piece of paper and then scroll it across the webcam so they could
read it. Each child received a personal
message so that they’d know how much mommy and daddy loved them, even thousands
of miles away. We were truly blessed by
those that cared for our children while we were away. My heart is full of gratitude for everyone’s
willingness to “enlarge” their family with 4 additional kids. We are also truly blessed to have some
amazing kids that were troopers the entire time we were gone. God really prepared and protected their
hearts during our time away. However, once
they saw us at the airport, Christian came running through the doors to greet
us!! Okay, they may have missed us just a
little, and we sure missed them too! :)
On
the evening of the 13th, we went on a crusade (outreach) to minister
to whoever showed up. We worshipped and danced with our Pohnpeian brothers and sisters – a
dance they had been teaching us since the day we arrived. They also performed a skit and shared a
message about Jesus. At the very
beginning a 10-year old boy named Tyson had been carried over to where we were
sitting. We all noticed him at that
point and knew that we needed to pray over him.
He was born blind with eyes completely shut, and he has never been able
to see. He also only walks when inside
his house because he is familiar with his surroundings, but when outside he is
carried. He mentioned how “Christians” of
other religions won’t pray healing over him because they don’t believe he can
be healed, but we told him that God is a God that heals today. As many of us prayed and declared healing
over his eyes, he said that Jesus was with him when we came. His eyes began to open and things started to take
on new form, especially in his left eye.
He began to receive sight and was able to identify the color of
someone’s shirt – white. He could also
see the lights that were streamed up above him.
Praise the Lord! The healing
process has begun and will continue until completion!! Please join us in prayer and agreement that
Tyson will receive His full sight!! He
gave His life to the Lord that night, so yes indeed, He has been given His
spiritual sight and that’s the most important of all!!
We were honored and blessed, once again, by our Pohnpeian
family with a delicious feast that they prepared for us on our last night
there. They roasted a pig in the ground,
made some delicious marinades for sashimi and cucumbers, diced fresh fruit for
a salad, and the list goes on and on.
They confirmed to us over and over and over again that we are royalty in
the Lord’s family, and we are honored members at His banquet table! They also prepared and sang a “until we see
you again” song for us. They knew it was
not a good-bye because we will see them again!
We danced with them one last time – a great way to end the evening! The following morning we took our family to
Kepirohi Falls – some of whom had never been there before. Many climbed to the top of the waterfall and
enjoyed the gorgeous view below. We even
had some daredevils climb the slippery face of the waterfall, about 1/3 of the
way up, and then jump. It was a
beautiful and joyful way to end our stay in Pohnpei at the Every Home for
Christ base. Until we see them again……..!
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