I have been praying to the Lord as to how ministry will be accomplished this summer since Back2Back made the decision to postpone summer internships/short-term groups. How will His promises be fulfilled without the hands and feet of His body? How will we as Back2Back Nigeria staff be able to meet all the needs of the Fatherless around us? Well, I want you to meet the seventh grade girls discipleship group at Hillcrest school. There are about fourteen of them who have chosen to use their Tuesday afternoons to help us care for the orphans that Back2Back Nigeria serves!
They are full of spunk, energy, excitement and desire! Their leader is a good friend of mine and she asked if she could take her bible study to Our Ladies of Apostles (OLA) orphanage one Tuesday afternoon. She went on to further explain that she was having some trouble with them: they were bickering between themselves and not interested in things of God. If there is one thing I have learned being on the mission field is that the moment you take your eyes off of yourselves and pour out, your own vision starts to become a bit more focused and that is when God starts to take over. Which is of course the answer to my own questions above.
By the end of the day, the children were loved on, protected, held up and played with, and there seemed to be a spirit of hope that filled the room. A hope for these orphans as each and every one of them, no matter how challenging they might have been physically or emotionally were picked up and loved on. A hope also for these seventh grade girls who were laughing, finding refuge in each other and asking when they could come again. And there was a hope in my own heart as well as I realized that God in His providence is answering my prayer by bringing an unlikely group of girls here to serve and that He will fulfill His promises in His own way. I need not fix my eyes on me, but I need to fix my eyes on Him, the author and perfecter of my faith who just wants me to see Him at work. I guess it is what I said about the seventh grade girls, the moment I stop taking my eyes off of myself and pour out is the moment God starts to take over and work out my vision.
