This Moment

I’m reflecting on an incredible week full of unforgettable moments in Honduras. Friday as I walked around absorbing the beautiful mountain landscape, I thought about all the things I had experienced this week. I thought of all of the ‘God moments’, when His presence was so real that I was afraid to move, afraid to lose that feeling. Repeatedly, God revealed Himself to me, the Hondurans, as well as the team.

As all those images flashed through my mind, I realized that each moment made me look for the next moment. Instead of being afraid to move and lose that moment, I should be eager to move and live the next moment. I want to experience every possible moment with God that I can. I want to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of others in THIS moment… the here and now.

I began to pray that God would give me those moments more and reveal Himself and His plan and that I would always be ready to give THIS moment to him.

In this moment, all that I give,

In this moment, the life that I live.

In this moment, in all that I do,

In THIS moment, Lord, I give it to you.

Hope for Tomorrow

As I was praying and singing, God affirmed my prayer by giving me another moment. A moment where time stood still as He revealed a young mother’s needs to me and gave me the words to speak to encourage and comfort her. That moment of watching her face change from desperation to hope, was a moment forever etched on my heart.

Sometimes I get caught up in looking for those exceptional moments. I get the feeling that God is preparing and equipping me for His extraordinary work in the future. That’s when I miss the here and now, THIS moment.

My life consists of millions of ‘moments’. I’ve had moments of sadness and disappointment, as well as moments of joy, laughter and fulfillment. I will have many new moments in my future with the opportunity to be the hands, feet and heart of Jesus. So has I reflect on the moments from the past awesome, God-filled week, and think about the moments of the future, I must remember the moment that matters the most…..THIS moment.

Sadia - Her story continues



Sadia



On Friday morning, we had the opportunity to follow up on a little girl that stole our heart in February 2010...Sadia.  As we pulled into the village of El Banano, we got to see some familiar faces.  Isabel (a dear friend of missionary Anita Ford) and several of the children who remembered us from our time there, greeted us with hugs.  My heart was full as two of my little friends came running out of the school saying my name and jumping into my arms.  Sadia as well as the other children seemed to be doing much better and Sadia's hearing and speech was improving greatly.  When she saw Jeneen, her eyes lit up and she hugged her tightly.  It was awesome to get to see them again.  When you connect hearts with people like that, you are connected for life.  I can't wait to see what God does in the lives of our friends in El Banano.

Below are links to Sadia's story.

Sadia's story:  http://cm-jeremiah29-11.blogspot.com/2010/09/sadias-story.html

Sadia can hear:  http://cm-jeremiah29-11.blogspot.com/2010/09/sadia-can-hear.html

Sadia's smile:  http://cm-jeremiah29-11.blogspot.com/2010/09/sadias-smile.html

Finish Strong

Our last day of clinic was absolutely amazing. By now, the team had the flow of people running through smoothly and even though we had worked long, hard days, we had an energy and determination to finish strong.

The most amazing thing about these mission trips is the overwhelming presence of God. The type of undeniable presence that reminds you that God is awesome and working in the lives of His people. Impossible acts were performed through a team of people, from various areas and professions, that God used for His glory. Not only were we used by God, we were forever changed by God. We came not only to serve, but were molded more into people God can use wherever we go.

Watching the Hondurans watch the team, I know that God was revealing Himself to their hearts and they also will be forever changed by what they saw and heard this week. We may never see the results in the individual lives of the people we grew to love this week, but I am confident that we will hear about God moving in Honduras in the future. God is going to bless this country and bless these people.

Of all the overwhelming moments of God Thursday, the one that gripped my heart to the core was a woman who came to they eye clinic around lunch time. The whole time I was testing her eyes and finding the ‘perfecto’ pair of glasses, I kept noticing the look in her eyes. I saw a look of sadness and I kept patting her arm and giving her an encouraging smile. Just as she was about to go, I felt I needed to do more so with Cristina Lindsey’s help, I talked to her about the things going on in her life. Turns out I was able to relate somewhat to her problems and share how God had carried me through similar circumstances. She seemed encouraged as we prayed for her and offered her hope and power that comes from Jesus.

As I think about the strong finish to the incredible week, I know we must apply this to our lives at home. Sometimes, we don’t have a clue what we are doing, but if we serve with a willing heart, God will guide us and give us the strength to FINISH STRONG.

The Eye Team

The HEART of God

We arrived at a new community ‘Betel’ yesterday morning and walked up the mountain and down into a valley that would be our work site for the next two days. The houses and living conditions were obviously less than what we saw in San Manuel and their church was built of bamboo slats, but the people were smiling and happy. It was a beautiful peaceful place and we felt the presence of the Lord as we stood in a circle and blessed ground before we began to work.

God continued to amaze us in eyeglass clinic, as person after person seemed to have impossible readings and difficult prescription needs. We had found a crate of glasses that hadn’t been entered into the computer inventory yet and a smaller box within labeled ‘unknown glasses’. We decided to take the crate with us just in case. It seems that most of the glasses we needed were in that crate which multiple times were matched not by the advanced computer technology we had, but by God. When the computer said there was no match, we went to the crate, said a prayer and inevitably pulled out that “perfecto” pair.

God had placed many pairs of glasses in the ‘unknown glasses’ box that were exactly what someone needed, but he saved the best for last. After we returned to the team house, Teresa brought some of the faith home children to us for eyeglasses. The glasses for one of the boys at faith home, Jesus, was in that box. He looked very handsome in the glasses that were sent just for him.

As we waited for the trucks to haul the supplies back up the mountain at the end of the day, some of us took advantage of the free time and played with the children of the village. We had the best time playing and laughing with them. We didn’t always understand each other, but laughter and smiles and love is universal in every language.

There was a moment in the middle of they busy day, that I just stopped and tuned out the noise and looked around. Through the crowds of people and busy team… I saw God. He was in the hands of Chris and Jeneen, as they lovingly examined a scared child. He was in the voice of Lisa, as she not only worked her triage station, she talked to the people about becoming a Christian. He was in Cristina and Melissa’s face as they fitted a young girl with reading glasses. He was in Scott’s arms as he supported an older lady and moved her through the clinic. He was in the eyes of the Hondurans as they watched the team not just do a job, but be the hands, feet and HEART of God.

....BUT GOD CAN!!!!

What a truly awesome day we had yesterday! I can’t even begin to describe the way God moved throughout the clinic, especially in eyeglasses. The eyeglass team started our day with extreme prayer that God would guide us so that we could touch the lives of the Hondurans. We even blessed the eyedrops that we had to distribute. We jokingly called them ‘Holy Eyedrops’ but we sincerely prayed that God would touch the lives of whoever we gave them to and that they would see God’s love and share it with everyone they meet. We so desperately wanted to be able to meet their needs, knowing that sometimes we would not be able to…..but God could.

There was an older gentleman who had cataracts so bad that we couldn’t get a reading on his eyes. We both tried and wanted so desperately to give him something that would help but no idea what strength he needed. I prayed “Lord, help us to give him something to help him see” then reached in one of the boxes and pulled out a pair. He put them on and immediately started smiling from ear to ear and raising his hands in the air. He said they were ‘perfecto’. We couldn’t ever have picked the right pair…..but God could.

 A young girl who they told us couldn’t even read because she never could see well enough to learn in school seemed to be quite a challenge. She never smiled as we tried multiple times to get her still enough to get a reading and then kept shaking her head as we pulled out the computer matches. I don’t blame her. The glasses were hideous and none seemed to help her vision. We finally found a pair that looked nice for a young girl and asked her to look at the words in my bi-lingual Bible to see if the letters were clear. She proceeded to read the English side of the scripture perfectly! We asked did she know how to read in English and she said no. Then we told her that she just did. The entire family said ‘wow’ and were smiling and chattering about it. We’re still not sure how a little girl who everyone thought couldn’t even read, not only did, but did in perfect English. Maybe she couldn’t…..but God could.

There were a multitude of stories that just touched our hearts throughout the day and we were able to send everyone away from our station happy and blessed. We had just packed everything up and were discussing how awesome the day was, when triage said they had one more patient for us. A little 4 year old girl who had injured her eye and needed glasses. We looked at each other and discussed how impossible it is to read a small child’s eyes and had very few child glasses, much less any that would just have prescription in one eye. We didn’t want to mess up her other eye and besides we had already packed everything up and it would take a long time just to set the computer system back up and it was dark. But we knew we had to try. The little girl sat down scared of the machine as I leaned in to try to get a reading. We said a quick prayer for God to calm her and take control. After only one try, we got a reading and one possible match for her. I dug through the mound of bags and found the specified pair of glasses. A little larger than we would like for a child, but adjustable. They were clear glass for her good eye and an exact match for her injured eye. We put them on her and instantly had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. She told us everything was clear! The odds of fitting her with glasses were off the charts and we KNOW we couldn’t do it….but God could.

We have seen the hand of God, we have felt His overwhelming presence, He has increased our faith and strengthened our spirits and today as we prepare for another day in the field, we know that we can’t do anything……BUT GOD CAN!!!!