A Woman with a Dream
After our visit to the first village, we made our way back up the mountainside to our vehicle. We had left it with a family that our hosts have come to know and trust. When we got back to the family’s house, a woman was there. As we gathered around she began to tell us why she came. A while ago, her husband went out hunting for their family but he never returned. Whether he was dead or alive, she didn’t know. She has five children and, understandably so, she was freaking out. She was not a Christian, but she started praying and calling out for help. God answered her cries for help and appeared to her in a dream. I don’t what happened in the dream, but after she woke up she knew that Jesus was the way and she wanted to accept Him. The problem was she didn’t know how. So she prayed that she would meet someone who could help her.
On that day, she had been out walking when she happened to see our vehicle. She said the moment she saw it, she knew instantly this was what she had been waiting for. She knew whoever we were, we were who the Lord had sent as the answer to her prayer. She trusted we would tell her how to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior. Before we prayed with her, we talked about what it means to be a Christian. It’s recognizing that we have sin and there is nothing we could ever do on our own to get to Heaven. So God sent His Son as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and now, not only can we be with Him in Heaven, but we can walk in intimacy with the Lord here on Earth. It’s a relationship that is part of your every day. It’s a love that is powerful and transforming.
She listened intently, said she understood and that she wanted to accept Christ. So we led her in prayer, declaring Jesus as her Lord and Savior. We then asked her if we could pray for her and her family. She gladly said yes and we prayed for provision and protection over her household. We asked God to give her wisdom and guidance in how to care for her children, that He would watch over her family, and bless them. Then we made sure she got connected to the ministry we were working with. They promised to bring her a Bible the next week when they came back so that she could read God’s word and grow in her faith. They told her about a village near her they regularly go to and started a church at. They invited her to join them so she wouldn’t have to go through life on her own. She would have a community of believers to support her, lover her, and help her grow in her relationship with God.
Leading people to accept Christ is incredible but we can’t stop there. People need a community that will invest in them, teach them, and be there when life gets tough. Not just lead them in a prayer and abandon them to figure out the rest. I’m grateful to work for an organization and to partner with ministries who not only believe that, but actually do it.
When I look back on this moment, I feel beyond blessed and humbled to have been part of it. I am amazed at how God orchestrates everything. He brought us there in perfect timing to minister to this woman. We could not have guessed or planned this if we tried. I was also amazed at how the Lord answers us. sometimes in such a tangible way. He is so unique and personal in how He reaches out to us. We are not alone in this life. We are deeply loved and cared for. God is there, He is available and He wants to help us. And sometimes He does it by allowing a group of believers to come together in the most unlikely way, and minister to one another.
The Kingdom is being built all around us. We just have to be willing to take part in it. And when we are willing, incredible things happen.
“…And who knows whether you have not come to the Kingdom for such a time as this.” Esther 4:14 ESV
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