***I apologize for not posting last night. Our day was full and I fell asleep. I intended on posting this morning but didn’t get a chance. However, I wanted to preserve each day and am thankful that Cindy wrote this and emailed it to me last night.***
Cindy Preston:
Today was Sunday, the Sabbath, so we went to church and didn’t have any work planned. Service was held at Casa Ebenezer, so getting there was its own experience. Most of the roads are more like off-road terrain – rock hard dirt roads with deep potholes and steep hills. It took about a half hour to get there, which gave me plenty of time to appreciate the effort that people took to make it to church to worship together. That was humbling.
I had been asked to give my testimony between worship and the sermon. This was a first-time experience, not because I hadn’t shared my testimony before, but because it was the first time doing so through an interpreter. I had to pause every so many works to allow Jocsan to repeat my words in Spanish to the congregation. It was a little awkward, but a joy to do.
Basically, what I shared was that my life and faith have been a journey, and not always a smooth one. Statistically my life should look very different. But, the statistic we can, and must, hold onto in God’s economy is that the score for the enemy and death is zero. The score for our risen, eternal Savior is one! Each of our stories are different in the details and the ways that God redeems us. But we can hold tight to the truth that the same power that resurrected our Lord Jesus Christ can redeem each and every one of us.
I also shared about a time about 10 or 11 years ago when God pursued me with his love, grace and mercy when I found myself in a deep, dark pit. This was the kind of pit in which I was in a spiritual and emotional fetal position. I was numb and unable to pray, not knowing what to even pray. But, even in those seasons we generally still go through the motions of life. I continued to work, take care of my family and go to church in my broken state, even if it was just going through the motions. Then one Sunday our praise team was leading the congregation in “God is Able.” As I was singing along, I felt like the Holy Spirit had wrapped around me like a blanket. I was reminded that God is able. He can heal me. Even when I couldn’t call out to him, he came to me. That was the beginning of a long healing process for me.
One of the things that was key was that I got deep into God’s word. I ended up studying the Psalms of Ascent (120-132). These were psalms that the Jewish people would have chanted when they made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Temple for the Festivals. I studied two psalms each week. The mental image was that I was taking one step with each psalm on the steps leading up to the Temple. So, ascending one of the temple steps with every two psalms (one foot, then the other each week). God and I literally walked out of my pit together over the course of that time.
I ended by reading Psalm 121: I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
After service several people thanked me for sharing, but one woman in particular ended up talking to me at great length. She was appreciative because she’s experienced first-hand that one person’s testimony can be helpful to another’s. When we are willing to tell our stories, we give the gift of letting other people know they are not alone in their own journey. No two journeys are the same. But we all have a story. We all will experience suffering. We all need a Savior. And, all of us can have our stories redeemed. Another little prayer and verse from the gift bags the team received was about being “fresh” … may we embrace the new thing God is doing in us and those we are serving (Isaiah 43:18-19). Redemption is God’s way of doing a new thing.
This morning’s devotional theme was helpfulness, which they defined as “to provide for others who are in need or make it easier for them to deal with a problem or improve their lives.” The conversation with the woman brought this back to my mind. Helpfulness isn’t necessarily doing something for someone, although that certainly can be. Helpfulness can come by providing hope that gives them strength to deal with a problem or improve their lives when they know they aren’t the only one struggling or suffering in some way. (But there is still plenty of help by doing in the days ahead at Abba Father’s Children’s Home!)
Brad Horner:
I really appreciate Cindy writing and sharing her experiences and perspectives of our trip. It was great to see how the church at Casa Ebenezer embraced her and how she encouraged their congregation. Our team also led worship for the church. Emma played guitar, Will played the box drum, Anna played the keyboard and led vocals. They did a fantastic job!
In a way, it was like Lakeside on the road with our praise team, Cindy’s
testimony, and I had the message. Speaking through an interpreter is a new
discipline that I need to continue to develop, but working with Jocsan is
great. He listens well and communicates clearly. Early Sunday morning I tried
to go through my sermon and remove words I thought would be difficult to
translate. Little did I know that it would be “nugget” as in “nugget of truth”
that would lead to a humorous exchange. Jocsan thought “chicken nugget” and we
had a good laugh.
I had asked Kayla a few weeks ago, when she passed on the invitation to preach, what would be a good topic or text for the congregation. She said, “oh you know, anything about walking with the Lord.” That narrowed it down! Several weeks ago I had started sending one verse a week from Psalm 23 to my text group. That inspired me to focus on Psalm 23 in youth group over the summer. What could be better to address “walking with the Lord” than to focus on the Shepherd?
When preaching through an interpreter, I have to manuscript my sermon because I would get too distracted to keep my train of thought. I did feel comfortable enough with Jocsan to veer away from my manuscript a few times but its pretty much what I preached. You can read my sermon HERE.
Before we concluded the service, Brother Gaby Morales shared his testimony with the church. I am so glad he did. God had brought a few new visitors, including two teenaged boys we picked up on our way, and our team to the church that day. This is one thing I love about Gaby is that he wants to tell others what the Lord has done in his life and how the Lord will work in others if the surrender to Jesus. His testimony was a big encouragement to our team!
After church we had a potluck of some amazing food! The church was so generous and welcoming. I was excited that eventually we sat in a big circle and just spent time together.
The afternoon was restful. We headed down to the beach and enjoyed swimming in the Pacific Ocean. I swam out a little way and floated, the good kind of floating where your ears are just under the water and block out the noise. It was so peaceful. John Mark McMillian’s words came to mind, “if Grace is an ocean, we are all sinking.” God’s grace is so abundant and good. He knew what we needed that day and we received it with deep gratitude.
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