The God of Miracles!

*"Royalty is my identity.
Servant hood is my assignment.
Intimacy with God is my life source.
So, before God, I'm an intimate.
Before people, I'm a servant.
Before the powers of hell, I'm a ruler,
with no tolerance for their influence."*
~ Bill Johnson

Many people have asked me to share specific stories of what God is doing here. I just wrote a friend of one story and I would love to share it with you. I believe it describes our life here very well as we have found our best "ministry" opportunities have been the ones we could never had planned.


"Sunny was sick one day and so I took her to the clinic. I call it the "Dollar Clinic" because most procedures cost an American dollar and you feel that is the quality of service you receive. The people are nice though being as they are Ethiopian. :) As we were sitting waiting for her results, an older gentleman with a cane walked in front of us and sat beside us. He had experienced a stroke that affected the left side of his body. It was obvious that he had a very difficult time walking and his left hand would not uncurl from it's debilitated position. We started talking and discovered he was a Believer! Tedessa, our brother in Christ, had a stroke 6 months before. As
he described the struggles on the past few months, he praised Jesus for His faithfulness and care. "I could never have made it without my Jesus!" he told us.

As we listened to his story, I just cried and cried. What beautiful, unmovable faith this man had in spite of his difficult circumstances! As the Holy Spirit moved us in compassion, we asked him if we could pray for him to be healed. He was SO grateful and welcomed our prayers. As Sunshine prayed (because I was such a crying mess no words would come out) the Spirit came in such a beautiful way to the little outside waiting room of the "Dollar Clinic." During the prayer, I opened my eyes and looked at what had been a very useless left hand. Before our eyes, the fingers of his left hand stretched out and his hand became a functioning limb! The look on his face was incredible! As he watched his hand move and change, his eyes became bigger and bigger. After Sunshine said, "amen," the three of us sat there in awe of God's great Love for His children. Tedessa just kept thanking us and thanking Jesus.

Moments later, his unbelieving brother came to help him through some of his impending procedures. Our friend immediately started witnessing to his brother, telling him of the Great Love of God for him and how the he could never know greater love than the Love that flows from God and the Body of Christ. It was a humbling, amazing moment."

The Jesus that healed the nameless man with the withered hand in Matthew 12:9-14 was pleased to heal Tedessa with the "withered hand!" My God is still the God of miracles!

Sarah

As you know and have been praying, today was the scheduled day for the initial meeting with the female coaches in Addis. We (Sarah and I) showed up to the office 10 minutes early to prepare and pray for the meeting...of course we were the first to show. We waited and prayed...and waited some more! To be honest, I had some doubt that anyone was going to show! But finally, one by one they showed up and we had 11 total with a few that couldn't make it! Praise the Lord! We encouraged them, as women who hold a very special role in their country...to be a leader, a role model and a life encourager for their teams. We encouraged them to join in fellowship with each other to be a support and encouragement for one another. Pray with us that they will take this opportunity and develop a life-encourager fellowship group. Sarah and I have joined in with a few of the coaches who have modeled this fellowship group and it has been a blessing for all involved!
I will share one short story of the blessings of this group...
One day, Sarah, Ali, Genet, and I were on our way to a church service on a Friday night. We were approached by a beggar girl, who proceeded to walk with us and continued asking us for money and telling us that she had no parents or home. We found her name to be Sosena and asked her if she wanted to come with us to the church service. She said she wanted to and she helped us find the correct taxi. We enjoyed the service...some more than others because it was all in Amharic, unknowingly!! But I'm sure that was the Lord's plan because after the service, Genet was able to talk with Sosena and share the gospel with her! On our way back home, as we were waiting for the taxi to pick us up, Sosena said she wanted to pray to receive Christ as her savior!! So, right there and then, we prayed with her and she confessed her sins and asked Jesus to cleanse her and be her Lord! It was the sweetest moment I've experienced thus far! Genet invited her to come to the coaches fellowship so that we could spend time with her and pray with her. So she came, and brought her friend (Mekedes) with her who was also led to the Lord at this fellowship time! Now, one of the coaches, Jerusalem, has taken the two girls under her care and has set up meeting times twice a week to teach them about Jesus and pray for them! Amen!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Sunshine