Chains Be Broken, Lives Be Healed

Over the past two weeks, we have had the privilege of serving with an amazing mission team from Community Bible Church in High Point, North Carolina.  The team is from our previous home church where our family held membership for 12 years.  Many of the young adults on the team were small children when we moved from High Point!   It has been an incredible time of ministry serving with those we love and those that love our family.  What a blessing this time together has been!  We praise God for His timing in bringing them!

Here is a brief snapshot from a Facebook post of what the past two weeks have held:

Incredible time with the CBC team is drawing to a close. The Lord has done so much. Many souls have been saved. A professional clown has created laughter in remote, rural villages. A very, very sick little boy was taken to the hospital where, after a week of treatment, a diagnosis has been given. Two deaf and mute children now have the potential for a hopeful future. Many people have heard the gospel of Jesus complimented by music, drama, and dancing. Construction continued on the Doron Medical Center with the team claiming the land by prayer walking the perimeter. The "least of these" were loved as we held orphans in our arms or held the nubs of lepers' arms (those with leporacy). God broke chains of sin and bondage. Four team members were baptized in the Volta River. Five million listeners were blessed by the team members guesting on a Ghana radio program. A church was abundantly blessed by God's generosity and will have musical instruments next week. God brought 200+ people to the medical outreach in a village without church. Many who came chose to receive Christ and everyone was prayed over before seeing the doctors. The team grew in their faith and surrendered more of their lives to radically living outside of their comfort zone. Our family felt tremendously loved and encouraged. Prayers were answered. God's glory abounded on earth. We can not praise Him enough for everything He has done. Thank you CBC team for your obedience to GO! All glory goes to God alone.

I asked if any of the team members would like to write a blog post about their time here.  Becca Maners was the first to volunteer.

As I post her writing tonight, she is sitting in the Accra airport waiting to board her flight home.  We will be excited to hear how the Lord uses this trip to impact her life beyond her time in Ghana.  We pray she will lead others in living out the challenge she has written below.  We love you Becca!

Guest Blogger:  Becca Maners, 21 yrs.

Chains Be Broken, Lives Be Healed 

Ghana, Africa 2013

As I sat in the dirt with sweat and dust covering my body, a little girl in my lap stared up at me with big brown eyes. I could see myself in the reflection in her eyes and thought to myself, “what would it be like to live her daily reality?” I saw nights she spent without food, her thin worn clothes, life absent of love, and diseases that cause great suffering. This might not have been her reality completely, but I saw in her the nation of children neglected; neglected from our love. My stomach began to feel sick, anger began to set in, and a deep passion for the least of these welled up inside of me. But as I continued to search those eyes for her story, the sweetest smile formed on her face. It felt like God had tapped her on the shoulder and said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). I saw the Lord saying to me, “be joyful as you serve me and love them with a love like I love them”. 

Not everyone is called to travel across the ocean to Africa, but God HAS called us all to serve the least of these. Our life is filled with stuff, activities, relationships, and we are comfortable. As the body of Christ we are called to be God’s hands and feet, not to be comfortable. Although the steps we take will be filled with trials and our life will become dirty and sweaty serving him, it should be our joy to further His kingdom. So be bold in your faith, let His name be constantly on your lips. Take time to release yourself from the “holy huttle”, only interacting with other believers. Realize that Satan is real, but God has WON!!! So go tell everyone the victory in Him!! Challenge yourself, challenge your finances with giving, challenge those around you in their walk. Step into those villages where you find the least of these, whether that’s down the street or across the world. 

I got up after I happily let my legs go numb as the little girl slept clinging to my arm the whole evening. She grabbed me around my legs, and I bent down and said, “do you love Jesus?” She looked up at me with broken english and said, “yes and I love you”.  

"I will not leave you as orphans.  I will come to you."

John 14:18