3 days in the HOT sun painting a trailer. Building a ramp. Subway for lunch. Last week I felt like I was on the gospel version of Extreme Makeover! Missions week was a whole new experience for me. I took the week off of regular camp to sleep in a tent with girls who came to minister the gospel through service. Through it, I learned more about discipleship than anything!
We laughed together, painted together, and just shared life. Instead of having set times to pour into their lives, I had to make the most of everyday, normal life. God taught me to use every opportunity to speak truth into girls' lives and not waste a moment!
But more than anything, He taught me that He is the one who changes hearts. Monday night, I challenged them to grow in their knowledge of the God that they were serving. I was met by mostly blank stares. They grew up in church, what more did they need to know?
The frustrations I felt the next two days brought me to tears. My burden for the gospel overwhelmed my soul. If only they could know the wonder and beauty of a deeper relationship with Him! All day I was waiting to challenge the hypocrisy I saw in their lives - serving Him without a desire to truly KNOW Him. And yet, all opportunities to do so eluded me.
As I lay there dead on thursday night, my face in the grass, (no really, I mean it, I die in our skit ) God spoke to me. "Ellen, will you stop preaching to them and listen to my Spirit? I must do the work in their hearts. Listen to Me. Enjoy the time with them and trust ME. If I give you an opening, speak truth. But until then... " I was humbled more than you know. After the skit we laughed together and the leaders then sent them up to the prayer chapel.
They came RUNNING back an hour later, more excited than I had seen them all week. "Ellen! We all just realized that if we are going to share the gospel, we need to really know it! What can we study? Where do we start?" We talked for another 3 hrs about life and the importance of studying His Word and letting His truth influence every part of their lives! All the while I thought they weren't listening, God was working. One of the girls told me she had been thinking about my challenge all week!
By the end, they had planned a missions trip to Japan and a biblestudy leading up to it for those who were planning on going. Four of the girls have already started reading books of the bible! Is God powerful to save? Why yes. Yes He is =)
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