Today is the 15th day of outreach in Duncraig (North Perth) and things have been pretty much above awesome. I'm eating more than I need to, getting my skin nice and brown more than the average healthy level, and just doing whatever needs to be done. The Pastor that we're staying with has been very accommodating. We have pudding nights almost every night. When people say that you lose weight on outreach, they are really just having a laugh because that is very untrue. However, I am not complaining. We get lots of Slovakian delicacies because the Pastor and his family, whom we're staying with, are originally from there. Praise God for food and culture!
Apart from eating and having lots of fun. The YWAM team and I have been hitting the streets and beaches of North Perth to tell people about how awesome they are and how awesome it is that God thinks of them as awesome people. It's been quite nerve wrecking at times, but people are a lot more open that I thought. I've learned a lot about just being confident in Christ and just going for it. After all, we have an amazing God and it'll be a waste if we didn't share that with anyone.
So, I thought I'd share a story about one of the incidences I had on the streets telling people about God:
It was a really really hot thursday afternoon, and I was with my pair buddy sitting on the bench waiting on God to see what He wanted to say to us. In my mind, I was semi frustrated at myself and God for being confused as to why I was lacking intimacy in my relationship with Him and the fact that I wasn't sure whether I could hear him during the previous days of walking around and talking to people. I was confused and desperate. I really wanted to feel God again and I just felt that I was somehow not getting enough of Him. So I asked God out loud, "Okay God, if there is anything you want to speak to us now about a specific person to talk to, then tell me now because I don't know what I'm doing, and I really want you to speak to me." I felt a sense of doubt up to that point, but I didn't want to. I know in my heart that God is good and that He does speak, but there were many times where I just lacked the faith. It's amazing how easily your faith can be snatched away when you're just going through the motions.
But God doesn't get sick or tired of reminding us that He is awesome and that He sees you as awesome.
So I waited a little. And then two random things came into my mind. It was, "Wilting hand and polkadots". I didn't think much of it. Thought I was just making it up again. So my partner and I stood up from the bench and started walking around with those things in our minds.
After a few minutes, we walked pass a shop called, "Good Sammys". In the display, I saw a polkadot dress on the mannequin and I thought, "Geez. Wow, look...polkadots.right" and then I moved on. But then as we walked pass the shop, I felt that we somehow should go and check it out. So we turned around and walked into the shop and as soon as I open the door, the first thing I noticed was a woman holding her arm and her hand was in a wilted position. So, being me, i just thought that was a little coincidental, weird and tried to rationalise the whole situation. So my partner and I were just walking around in the shop, and I couldn't stop looking at this woman. I felt that I had to somehow approach her and say something to her. But what? What should I say? Am I really supposed to go and talk to her? Is her hand really disabled or what? This woman was a clerk in the shop and she was disabled somehow and I just knew that God was pursuing her but I was scared and freaking out. So I ran over to my partner and told him what was going through my mind. So we prayed and asked God for a confirmation if this was the woman that we were supposed to go talk to. We said, "Ok God, this woman looks pretty busy at the till and we don't wanna interrupt her duties but if we're supposed to talk to this woman, let her walk away from the till and free her from duties somehow." and then a few minutes later, she walks away from the till and kinda stands around. So then I knew that was God, and so I freak out even more because I'm nervous and I don't even knw what to say because I'm just looking at the whole shop and there are loads of people around, everything just seemed chaotic.
So my partner tells me that we should maybe step out of the shop for a while. So we come out of the shop and I feel really tense, but I know that we still have to go and talk to the woman. So we sit down and ask God, "What should we say. We know we're suppose to encourage her but what and how?" and then after a few moments. A bible verse pops into my mind and I have not much of an idea of what that verse says. It was Isiah 53:3-5 and it talks about how Jesus heals and how all our sin and shame has been put on Him and we're set free because of this. And immediately I feel encouraged and pumped.
We go back into the shop, and by now there are hardly any people around and the woman is not doing anything. So we approach her and tell her that we feel that God wants us to go and talk to her. We tell her what we just went through and she seems pretty startled but then she says, "It's good to know that there are people who know God and love Him" and it was such a relief because she knew who God was and His love for her. So it was a lot easier to talk to her and we prayed for her and told her that Jesus was her healer and after that, her face just lit up and that just brought great satisfaction and peace to my heart.
I'm pretty sure that God wanted us to encourage her and to encourage me too. After telling God that I was frustrated, He proved that I could actually hear Him by taking control of the whole situation and leading me to this woman- this woman who was disabled but had a God who loved her and saw her as His immensely precious daughter and she needed to hear it.
We all need to be reminded that God is there and that's why He goes out of His way to remind us because He knows that it's so easy for us to forget because it's difficult. But He still uses us to do amazing things despite how messed up we feel and despite us having a lack of faith in Him.
Outreach really has been about putting people- people I know and people I don't know above myself. It's about trying to love others in a way that Jesus did so that people will know who Jesus is. It's about giving the right view of God to people who have had the wrong view of God. Our God is huge. I fail to understand how huge He is sometimes. We limit God to how much our head holds. There is so much more to Him than we think. I'm still learning and everyday is a challenge but I'm so glad that God loves me unconditionally and He's not gonna give up on me- or on anybody.
He's pursuing you. More than you know.
Go God.
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