April 29, 2007
hello prayer team and friends!
it has been another eventful weekend here in Arusha, and i am so thankful to God for it! earlier this week Mark told me he was preaching at a seminar for Maasai's nearby, and asked if i wanted to preach. i told him i would come to hear him preach, but i didn't think i had anything to say. he replied, "but you're a missionary in Africa!" and i thought, "oh yeah, that's why i'm here isn't it!" so this saturday me, mark, one of student's Solomon, and two of our friends went to preach at the seminar! we walked there and it was about a half hour away. the church was above a big coffee plantation (which i was especially pleased about :). it was a small room with about five rows of benches and a pulpit in front. the church was founded two months ago and the pastor said there are about ten faithful members as of now. for some reason the term "Maasai seminar" invoked an image of a big room and lots of Maasai in their traditional dress, long and lively worship, and lots of speakers. instead, it was a very humble church, and we were blessed to help in laying it's foundation. we had two people come from the village, the pastor, another preacher, and our whole team. we prayed for the consecration of the buidling and for God to protect His church. we sang worship songs as loud as we could to let satan know that God's ambassadors had arrived and we were claiming this church as HIS. then we each preached. i had figured i would preach on Daniel chapter 9 again, because if God gives even one message why not keep sharing it around? but when i was sitting on the bench i decided to teach on Hosea, on a passage that God had shown me earlier in my trip and spoke very intimately to me. so here's roughly what i said (in more eloquent English :):
In Hosea chapter 2 God personifies Israel as a woman. He says that she has been unfaithful to Him. She has looked to other lovers for provision and for her water, food and shelter. But really all along it was God providing these things for her. Because of this, God takes everything away from her. Then, in this state, he can "allure her to the wilderness" and "speak tenderly to her." He has to take it all away in order to draw her back to Him: to show her that He is the one watching over her. Then he takes the names of her gods away from her mouth, so that she doesn't even remember them, and replaces them with His name. He becomes her husband. So i told the church that i had come to tell them that God heals your past. And he does it in such an intimate way that He even removes the memories. You won't even remember the names of your other gods, because God's name will be upon your lips. i told them that whatever lies in their past is forgiven and God wants to heal it. That he is allowing us to leave it behind and move forward into the present and future with Him.
after i preached our friend Anne, from Kenya, spoke. she had planned on saying something, but while i was preaching God told her to teach on a passage in Matthew. it was the passage about the crippled man at the gate Beautiful outside of the temple. she said what i had shared spoke to her, and she wanted to expand on it. she asked us "what is hindering you from moving forward?" this crippled man was sitting right outside the sanctuary, but he was prevented from getting up and going in. what is preventing us from going in? she said the past is like something tied to our ankles, not allowing us to walk. then we went into a time of prayer, asking God to remove things from our past and to bring healing. she shared my Mom's life verse in Phillipians "forgetting what lies behind and pressing on towards the upward call of Christ Jesus."
i have to go to a coffee date but i wanted to share this wonderful day with you all. God bless,
Christina
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