Excitement, worry, questions, mixed with joy and enthusiasm: this is how we started our journey to Africa on August 14. You may wonder why now? Why all the way to Africa? The answer is very simple: God’s wonderful and perfect will. Only now, when I look back, do I realize how well things have unfolded right before our eyes, and only now can I see more clearly the wonderful path God has created for each of us this year. God is never wrong.
His guidance, every step we have taken towards Africa, demonstrates His attention to every detail of our lives. There have been a few lessons I have had to learn, and one of them is this: God provides, we just have to make ourselves available!
Once here, I found a world completely different from the one I was living in. Everything I saw in pictures I will never be able to compare with what I have experienced in reality and it will be very difficult for me to put into words what I’ve experienced here.
I stepped into one of the poorest places I have ever been, but I found a richness that so many of us have lost and that is a sincere joy. A joy that is not conditioned by material things, it is a joy that comes from God. We have been greeted by this joy every day and it has been given to us wholeheartedly, especially by the children here. We understood that words are often insufficient to show the love of Christ. A simple hug to a little child who has never received one can mean more than we could ever imagine. But for that we need to put ourselves and our time at God’s disposal. I was very impressed by the stories of women who put themselves at God’s disposal in this way. Every day for a year, they had to walk four hours to reach the nearest water source. Water they needed to prepare food for the children at the orphanage. How many of us would make that sacrifice?
God calls each one of us to share with Him in this work of spreading the Gospel. It is a privilege to give, it is a privilege to be an encouragement, it is a privilege to proclaim His Word.
We are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. If we don’t show Jesus’ love, who will? If we who have Jesus do not go and tell them about God, then who will? If we will not give a hug with our hands to the one who does not know hugging, then who will do it for Him? God wants our complete dedication. He wants me to give Him my feet to walk in His ministry, my hands to use to show His love to others, to feed a soul, and my mouth to proclaim the Gospel to those who are still in darkness.
I saw this beautiful ministry in Malawi these days, and realized how many beautiful souls have chosen to dedicate their time and resources to God. Everything here works as one body, each one knows their ministry, and the part that has been entrusted to them. But someone will always be missing. And the call for each of us has already been made.
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Isaiah 6:8
Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”