Blessing in Disguise

 

Last Friday, March 27^th,
our team went into Mbabane
for our family ministry. We met up with
a Pastor that we are friends with and he hooked us up with some people that
need help getting their church building completed. The church is called “Bride of Christ” and
has about 80-100 people attend each Sunday. Our task for the day was to continue digging this trench around the back
of the building and move the dirt that we dug up into the building to level out
the floor. We worked from 10 am until
3pm…just imagine 18 people working non-stop, which is a lot of wheel barrows
full of dirt. We had some people
shoveling, some people moving wheel barrows back and forth, and some people
patting down the dirt. As the day went
on, every job began to get tiresome even though we switched off every now and
then. Somehow, it seems that the wheel
barrows multiplied throughout the day, but the people who were shoveling did
not! It was a great experience to be
able to serve these people in that way.  

However, I think the best part of
the day was when some of the members (a couple girls) came to pitch in. They went to that church every Sunday and
wanted to see it done as much as we did, so they got dirty with us and helped
out. One of the girls’ names was Landiwe
and she and I hooked on to each other as soon as we met. She had brought her three-year-old son with
her, Thando, and he was just so precious, running and jumping all over the
place. Landiwe was my wheel barrow
person as I shoveled mounds and mounds of dirt into her wheel barrow. She and I got to talking and it turns out
that she just got saved a year ago and she was raving at how her life is so
much better because of Christ. It was so
refreshing to have this conversation with a girl my age. As I was talking and working along side of
Landiwe I realized that I had been talking and working along side Christ. Have you ever had those moments when you feel
like it was Jesus you were interacting with instead of the person you saw on
the outside? Well this was one of those
times for me. The pure joy that Landiwe
had could only come from Christ and just her selfless ambition to jump in and
so more work than we did, spoke volumes about her servant heart. I loved spending those moments with Christ,
it was so phenomenal. And Christ is
continuing to use this young lady as means to speak into my soul. Ever since that day in ministry, Landiwe has
called me everyday to just say hello and ask me how I am doing. Then she finishes every conversation with “I
love you” (and Swazi’s never make phone calls longer than they need to be
because it uses up their airtime, so it’s a huge thing that Landiwe uses her
own money to call me and tell me these things). It breaks my heart every time because I can just hear Jesus in her
words! There is no way I could go
somewhere and just meet someone for a few hours and love with no questions
asked…that is ALL God. Here I go to Mbabane thinking God is
going to use me to bless these people and this church, but in reality he used
Landiwe and the others to bless me. I
just love it when God surprises me and throws me for a loop…it reminds me to
keep myself out of his work and his plan!!

So don’t forget to look for Jesus
today…he could be sitting in the cubicle next to you, or eating at the table
across the way, or talking on the cell phone passing by, or at home cooking you
dinner, or any number of other places. I
feel like so often Jesus is right there next to us, but we are too busy to
notice. Don’t be too busy today, look
for the hundreds of blessing God gives you each and everyday…I don’t know about
you, but that is something I don’t want to ever be too busy to accept.

“May God show
us his favorand bless us!May he smile on us!

Then those living on earth will
know what you are like;

all nations will know how you
deliver your people.

Let the nations
thank you, O God!

Let all the nations thank you!

Let foreigners-
rejoice and celebrate!

For you execute justice among
the nations,

and govern the people living on
earth.

Let the nations
thank you, O God!

Let all the nations thank you!

The earth
yields its crops.

May God, our God, bless us!

May God bless
us!

Then all the ends of the earth
will give him the honor he deserves.”