GO, SET, READY!

There are three places in this world where I feel closer to God…The International House of Prayer, Estes Park, CO and Ethiopia.  Somehow these places transport me out of the day to day and allow me to focus my spiritual eyes and ears more on the Lord and His Holy Spirit.  This last trip to Ethiopia was no different.  Maybe that is one reason we feel drawn there, drawn to the people, the children, the relationships that we have there.  By the end of each trip, we are ready to come home to see our family, but leaving is always bittersweet.  What a blessing to experience God’s omnipresence, His multi-dimensions, His global love for His people.

We got to meet our new daughter on this trip.  I was very nervous leading up to that day.  I didn’t eat much for 4 days before we left or the 2 travel days to get there.  It’s crazy enough to meet your daughter at age 6 instead of at birth, but with the difference in culture, language, etc. you wonder how they will feel about you.  Will she like us?  Does she know that we are her parents?  Does she even desire parents?  Has she ever had a man in her life?  How will she respond to a dad?  SO many unknowns…. but, we know the One who holds the future and had been praying for all these things for quite some time, so when they brought Mersha to us and she ran into our arms and threw her little arms around our necks, we were so at peace.  She was SO happy to see us and we were SO happy to see her; it was such a sweet moment.  She kissed my cheek so hard, I can still feel it!  Ah, my heart!  It was such a picture to me of our relationship with Jesus.  We know in our heads that He loves us, but we wonder what He will actually do when we see Him face to face. I know I will run into His arms and He will hug me so tight and He will kiss me on the cheek and tell me how much He loves me and then I will most likely fall to a heap on the ground!!  That will be an amazing, glorious day!  The day we met our new daughter was a glimpse of that - what a blessing! 

Of course we held her lots and lots and kissed her little cheeks and talked and played and sang.  The language barrier can’t stop love!!  It was great to have our team there to meet her as well. They played with the other older kids so we could have some time just with her, but also to see her interact with her friends.  What a way to start our week!  God was before and behind us and on our right and our left.  He had gone ahead of us and prepared the way and we could walk forward in confidence.  We stayed past the end of visiting time, but the staff didn’t seem to mind since we were entertaining the kids.  The time came that we had to say good-bye for the day, which was hard, but we knew we would see her again tomorrow! Sorry, I can't post any pictures of her!

 Ah…HOPE…the word means so much more in this place… HOPE in Jesus as savior, HOPE for a better life, HOPE for a rescued boy from the streets, HOPE for a girl released from trafficking….we saw SO much HOPE this week, it makes my heart sing!!!  We spent the afternoon sharing pizza and life with 10 boys and 3 girls from the streets.  They each had a different story of how they got there and how God brought them to the Hope for the Hopeless ministry and they found LIFE!  Pizza was a very special treat and the gobbled it up even though they had already eaten lunch just before we arrived!  Many of them hugged us as we exited the van.  We knew a few of the kids from our other trips, but most of them we didn't know, and they were loving on us already!  

After pizza, we sang some worship songs for them and they reciprocated by singing some songs for us.  It’s truly amazing to see kids and teens who were hardened from living on the streets, now transformed by God’s love and singing and praising Him!  God is a God of redemption!!  Through a translator, we shared that God sent us to them to tell them how much He loved them, that they are special to Him and that He has a plan for each of their lives.  We shared the “wordless book” which tells of God’s greatest love and the gift of salvation, we helped them make bracelets as a reminder of God’s love for them,  and we just loved on them through spending time together.  One of our team members, Tammy Stanton, had made tie die shirts and we were able to give each child one.  What a glorious day, even though we hadn’t slept much over the 30 hours of travel time it took to get there, we were all refreshed and ready for what the rest of the week would hold!