I just returned from spending one of the most difficult yet amazing weeks of my life in Cherokee, North Carolina.
God has a funny way of teaching you to trust him during missions trips. He has a way of doing what he wants to do and doing in just the way he wants to do it. And the way he orchestrates things to happen is absolutely incredible.
Our team of 24 people 19 teens and 5 adults had a VBS planned on the Armor of God for the Painttown Rec Center. First, I want to warn you that when you plan a VBS on the spiritual battle and how to protect yourself against it, Satan is planning an attack at the exact same time. On Monday we were telling the kids that the battle was a very real thing and by Tuesday we were experiencing how real the battle actually was.
Before I left for this trip I prayed that God would use my life, my testimony in someone’s life, someone I could relate to. I was completely taken by surprise by how he brought a child into my life, a child that stole my heart.
On Tuesday afternoon, one of the leaders asked me to help a little boy, Alijah, with his Bible verse. In the process I learned things about this little boy that I have never experienced in my lifetime. Nearly everyone in Alijah’s life had abandoned him. His father, his mother. He lived with his grandfather and never got to see his two younger brothers. I shared with him how, even though it wasn’t the same, like him I was missing a parent. On Wednesday Alijah was clinging to me, so I took him aside and showed him a verse that could only have come from the Holy Spirit. Psalm 146:9- about how God upholds the fatherless. I told him that even though his earthly father had abandoned him God was his heavenly Father who would never abandon him. Eventually I got to lead him to Christ. This was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life. Sometimes you’re unsure if the child is serious or not about his commitment, but afterwards, on his prize from memorizing his bible verse, without anyone’s help he wrote the following: I love God because hope. I love God for realz, and I love God.
On Thursday, I was terrified to leave him. He told me I should come to his house sometime, and when I told him today was our last day, the look on his face broke my heart in half. I felt as though if I left him, just like everyone he knew, He would think that God might leave him. But God was busy teaching me something. He was teaching me how to entrust the people I meet to him. When I meet someone, I latch onto them and in my plans, I’m not letting go anytime soon whether or not that person realizes it. So when I first met Alijah my heart when out to him and my heart decided it wasn’t letting go, even though subconsciously I knew I’d have to leave in 4 short days. I was so confused, I kept praying “God, How can you let this little boy think that I’m abandoning him, that You’re abandoning Him? This isn’t fair.” Through my friend Sarah, God told me something. She said “I don’t think we should be sad for what we can’t do anymore, the rest is in His plans, I think we should praise God for what He was done this week.” God taught me that he loves these kids far more than I love them. His love for Alijah was so much greater than I thought I loved him. His plans were far more beautiful than what I thought would be good for these kids. He sees the greater picture, while I only see his snapshot of life and I have to trust Him with his plan. So with God’s help, I let this little boy go. I let him go, knowing that God plan was better. Hoping and praying that in the 4 days God let me be in his life, I gave him my everything, letting him know that I’d be praying for his precious heart for the rest of my life. Because he impacted me in ways you never knew a 5 year old could.
That week was amazing. I saw 5 precious souls come to Christ and 19 teenagers rejoice with the angels. I saw Laurali’s smile light up everyone’s world. I saw the joy written all over Teya’s face when she asked Jesus to be her Savior. I saw Alijah cry tears for something I might never understand, but by God’s grace was given a tiny footprint on his life. I got one my first glimpses into the spiritual battle and understood how real it is, and how much I really do need the armor of God. I saw our team unified in ways I didn’t even know possible. I’ve grown relationships that I’m positive will last a lifetime. And most importantly I saw God’s grief and broken heart over his lost children and I saw Him love them with an everlasting love.
