Am I going crazy?

Ok, so I have been reading this book called A Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Don't read it . . . totally convicting me and spinning my life upside down. It is really helping me prepare for our trip to Africa though . . . bring perspective. But seriously, don't read it unless you want to be convicted and impacted.

I wanted to share an excerpt, or rather a story from the book that is having a huge impact on me. Here it is:

Richard Stearns was visiting a community in the Andes mountains. He was visiting a desperately poor family high in the Andes. Octaviana was a widow trying to support herself and her children as well as pay back a $300 debt her husband had incurred. The whole family was sick with parasites. Her small flock of sheep were sick too. Here is Rich Stearns' description of his visit with her.

"I asked her what she prayed for, because I could tell she was a woman of deep faith. She said she prayed to God that He would not forget her and her three children on that remote mountain -- that He would help her carry this burden and that He would send help. And as I held her hand and prayed for her, God revealed to me a profound truth -- that I was the answer to Octaviana's prayer. Eight thousand miles from my home in Seattle, 14,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains, she had cried out to God for help, and He had sent me. God had sent me to help her, He had sent me to comfort her in her suffering, and He had sent me to be Christ's love to her. She had prayed and I was God's answer, I would be God's miracle in her life.

And then the even bigger truth washed over me. I could see that all across the world people were crying out in desperation to God for help, for comfort; widows, orphans, the sick, the disabled, the poor and the exploited. These millions of prayers were being lifted up to God, and we, each of us who claim to be His followers, were to be His answer. We were the ones who would bring the "good news" of Christ to the poor, the sick, the downtrodden. God had not turned His back on the poor in their suffering. God had sent us. This was the good news of the gospel -- good news indeed for the poor."

Not sure about you, but how exciting, humbling, and scary is it that we could possibly be his answer to prayers already being prayed . . . do we realize that? Sometimes it is hard to understand that . . . here I am sitting in my kitchen . . . and somehow God is preparing me to possibly answer prayers. What? Am I going crazy? How can that be true?

I think the farther we go on this journey, the more we are going to realize that God can and will use us for whatever he wants. He is equipping us not to just serve and help . . . but to answer prayers. Powerful . . .

Coach Freace