This weekend was one of the most difficult and stressful weekends I’ve had in a very long time, but it was also one of the most amazing weekends that I’ve had in my life. It’s kind of funny how God sends you period of time where you’re basically just worn down until you seriously have nothing left. That is exactly what has been taking place over the past month (as you can read from the previous posts). All of that kind of came to a climax this past weekend and more specifically with it all coming to a head with our Ministry Fair that was held on Sunday.
The Ministry Fair, is a fairly new thing for this church as we’ve only done it one other time. This project is a challenge because it’s kind of like my “baby” for the month(s) leading up to it after it’s been decided when it will actually take place. Designing and producing the various materials used for the event, gathering the supplies, set-up, and all the other aspects that go into an event like this are definitely interesting when: 1) you’re flying solo and 2) you’re in Africa.
To say that God is good would be an understatement in my mind especially in the ways he shined through this whole event. As I previously stated I was seriously running on empty yesterday morning and as I woke up at 5, I seriously didn’t know how I was going to pull of this event that was going to take place in a mere few hours from then. After getting ready for the day I set out to begin set up while the sun was just about to rise and it was so amazing how God showed himself in two awesome ways at that exact time – the sunrise was spectacular and Ryan, instead of going through his usual Sunday morning routine, put that aside and came out to help me and just started setting up tables without me saying a word. If only I knew what a picture that would be the whole rest of the morning.
It pretty much sprinkled the entire morning and I won’t lie, I had to fight getting disappointed by the weather and I had to constantly remind myself that all of these details were placed in God’s hands and I needed to be content in what He had the outcome be. Ryan continued to be an AMAZING help the whole rest of the morning. Set up was finished at about 9:35 and JB finished teaching at 9:37, and it was one of those things where I just knew that if God had not laid it on Ryan’s heart to “help a sister out”, there would have been no way I could have done it.
The banner and balloons were hung, the tents were up, tablecloths pinned down, signs posted, flyers distributed, and tables decorated…it was show time. It was neat seeing people interacting with one another about ministry and it was even cooler the fact that God had brought it about where JB had reached the first part of Romans 12 for the teaching this week. So fresh in their mind was the fact that we are to give ourselves as living sacrifices and that we all have different gifts. Oh it was just too cool!
Following the fair, I was able to see the “body” work together in a capacity that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before. Maybe it’s just because it affected me, I don’t know… But I just have to say that my “brothers”: Ryan, Richard, JB, Martin, Morris, Joel, Johnson, and Happy amazed me how they just helped out. I seriously didn’t even have to ask them to do a single thing they just did it. And by one o’clock, you couldn’t even tell that there was a church wide even that had taken place. Words cannot express how God used these guys to bless and minister to me. And what a picture it was of a healthy body working properly.
Following the Fair, Ryan and I had been invited to lunch at Francis and his wife’s house and let me just say smoked meat and g-nut sauce…AMAZING! We had a great time just hanging out with them and kind of getting to breathe before the afternoon’s ministry.
I had the thought to potentially cancelling my afternoon Bible studies with the kids and the girls, but I’m so glad that I didn’t! Because I was spent, I decided to approach the study a little differently. Instead of teaching it in the usual format of intro, proposition, points, conclusion, etc… I had the kids do the work themselves. As we looked at the verses of Genesis 18, I asked them what they noticed in the passage, what it meant for Abraham to move about quickly, to give a fat cow, and all that and it was cool how engaged the kids were! It was seriously one of the best times I’ve had teaching them and I pray that they will remember what God was showing us through the afternoon. Then with the girls, it was pretty much the same thing. We were in the end of Acts 2 and we just discussed what the various things meant that the early church was dedicated to. It was a challenge to think of how far short we all fell with those things. Afterwards, I just was able to hang out with them and we laughed, and looked at pictures.
Yesterday was a day that I can almost guarantee will go down in the books as one of the most awesome ministry days of my life. I’m so thankful that in our weakness, He is made strong, and that His grace truly is sufficient! To HIM be ALL the honor, ALL the glory, and ALL the praise.
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