And The Blessings Continue

Things have been crazy over the past week! This blog post will be an attempt to play "catch up" with you guys.

God continued to shower blessings at VBS on Thursday and Friday. As far as I know, there were 28 salvations during the entire week. Yay God! Once again, there are a couple of incredible stories I would like to share with you.

On Thursday morning, the director asked if any of the kids who had prayed to receive Christ would like to stand up and let everyone know. Without any hesitation, a boy named Wyatt shot up. He wanted everybody to know that he was a Christian and that he is not ashamed. It was so cool to see! To make it even better, there was a girl in his class that wanted to receive Christ on Friday during Missions. Instead of going on to the next rotation, he stayed back with her. He is totally on fire for God! I really think that he has something special.

Another blessing sprang up on Friday. There were three kids, two girls and a boy, in the third and fourth grade class who wanted to get saved. They were brother, sister, and step-sister. These kids really had an incredible story. Unfortunately, they came from terribly broken families. They understood the pain of a family being ripped apart. One of them told me that they still cried about their parents' divorce. They also talked about how they had been afraid to go up and and talk to someone during an altar call. Their friends had told them not to do it. At one time, they did talk with somebody at a VBS, but they didn't understand what the Gospel was all about. "I was just repeating words. I didn't understand what they meant." It was empty for them. However, they finally understood! It was incredible to sit in on the counseling session with them and hear what they had to say. The oldest girl, Nadia, just blew me away. "When you asked Jesus into your heart, did you feel foolish for all the sins you had committed?" It was incredible to listen to her share her heart! I think she is another child that God has a very special plan for. She is wise beyond her years.

I also promised that I would share Gary's story with you. He is 70 years old, legally deaf, and has an incredible heart for missions. He grew up in home where Christianity was bashed and church was a taboo subject. He also has 3 learning disabilities so school was very hard for him. He was constantly being told that he was stupid. He finally figured out how to study in high school, but most people still thought he was dumb. It wasn't until he fell off of a building at 18 that things changed. He got pretty banged up. I'm not really sure what happened, but the government was somehow involved and offered to pay for any training he needed in order to support himself. He was given an aptitude test and found out he was a mechanical genius! He got training and went on with his life. He got married and had two kids. Things seemed to be going well, but there was a problem. Due to his work schedule, activities, and the company he kept, he became an alcoholic. He eventually realized he had a problem and changed jobs in order to make an effort to stop drinking.

During this time, his young daughter had been invited to church. The first time, he and his wife let her go without thinking much about it. When his daughter wanted to keep going, his wife decided that she needed to check it out. As a result, Gary's family began to get involved in the church. Unfortunately, he didn't buy into it. He had to move his family due to his job and church got pushed to the side. It was at this point that his alcoholism had become a major problem. However, a move wasn't the only thing involved in fighting his alcoholism. He began to read the Bible.

At this point in time, a family friend also invited them to a Catholic Confirmation Class. He and his wife attended, but Gary immediately noticed that not everything taught in the class lined up with Scripture. He would ask questions about every difference he noticed, but the priests always put him off. Eventually, he did get to sit down with them and ask his questions. There were answers for why things didn't line up. They had other writing besides the Bible. They had writings from their leaders, and if the two writings disagreed, the writings of their leaders were viewed as correct. Gary just couldn't accept that. He and his wife didn't join the Catholic Church and decided to look elsewhere for answers. Just a short time later, they were invited to a Church New Year's Eve Party. It was at this party that he began to understand his need for a Savior. He met with a guy that had invited them to the party and he received Christ. From that point forward, he lived a life for the Lord. He introduced his entire family to the Lord and has began to make an annual mission trip to Africa. He wants everyone he meets to have a chance to know the Lord. It was an incredible blessing to work with him in Missions. (He even invited me to go this year. I don't think that's what God has planned right now for me though.)

I hope these stories have blessed you as much as they blessed me! I should have another post up soon.

As always, keep praying!