Answering the Call!
Photo: September 3, 2023 at Compassion International Ministries in Bvumbe, Malwai, Africa.
Compassion International Ministries is growing!! The congregants of our Chigumula location traveled to join in service with our Bvumbe location on Sunday, September 3, 2023. The pastors and elders realized the need for deacons to be appointed into the service of the ministry. This past Sunday many were called into service of the Lord, and praise God they have all answered the call!
Speaking of answering the call….I prepared myself to meet the church through a video call. For weeks we had discussed and planned mobilizing the members of one location to travel to our other location for a joint service. The leaders had been fasting and praying for God to lead us into the right choices as far as appointing members to serve. As I sat quietly waiting for the appointed time, I looked around semi-nervously. It was 5:50 am EST and 11:50 am in Malawi. I knew that the pastor was preaching and soon I would be meeting the members of the ministry face to face for the very first time. Many of their faces and names I recognize through shared videos and photos and even in the creation of baptism certificates…but this was different. I glanced down at my Bible, I looked at my laptop that was open to our recently published website, displaying our “Meet the Team” page. It was dark here and very quiet that early on a Sunday morning, but I was instantly filled with gratitude. In that quiet and almost suspenseful moment, God reminded me of His words to me when He said, “I will send you to the nations.” Of course the promises of God are “yes” and “amen”, and I never doubted that what God told me would come to pass, but it is another thing to be fully aware that I am walking into the place that He said that He would take me. I was trying to remember as many details as possible in that moment, praying that they would be etched in my heart and mind forever.
It was time for the call. Pastor Michael in Malawi couldn’t get a good enough signal to call me, so he asked for me to call them. I did…and the call went through!! THIS IS IT!! Pastor Michael answered and I saw so many beautiful smiling faces looking at me!! My heart felt like it was simply going to burst from joy to see all of the faces that I had come to recognize looking back at me. One by one they lined up to tell me their name and to greet me. As I heard there names and I saw their faces I can hardly express the gratitude that filled my heart. The love that I felt is almost indescribable. A few tried to speak to me in English, the rest spoke Chichewa and Pastor Michael was so kind to translate between them and myself.
And God said again, “I will send you to the nations.”
