Heavy. That’s how I feel tonight. And I’m not talking about my scale although that isn’t too kind these days. I sift through feelings and contemplate. Is it right for a Christian to feel such heaviness? Just last night at bible study I commented that we live with joy. As Christians, it isn’t the life of can’t have and can’t do. Ours is the life of satisfying joy while choosing to do without much of what the world sees as fulfilling. Immediately a tug in the back of my mind whispered, take heed, I will have to prove those words. So today, I’m struggling with heaviness. The monster that has been lurking for months is ready for attack. Sometimes it feels like life is all about can’t haves and can’t dos. Monstrous problems are in operation takeaway just like the stripping locusts. Where will I stand if all I see is can’t? Prayer. Praise. Recalling promises. Sometimes these are done through hardened jaw, steeled eyes and sheer grit. Tonight it is a sacrifice, without much joy. I know the promises are no less true just because I feel heavy. Is that an honorable sacrifice?Our study leader talked about when her children were little and they proudly brought her a gift of a dandelion from the yard. To them it was precious and beautiful. Her wiser eyes saw the weed it is. Her loving eyes acknowledged love in the weedy bouquet. When I bring gifts of praise, obedience and love to God, does He see my gift as genuine and precious? Tonight I present my weedy bouquet. I give what I can. God understands.
I recently had the privilege of attending a banquet for International Cooperating Ministries. Their mission is to nurture believers and assist church growth worldwide to see people, transformed through Jesus. http://icm.org/ ICM partners with already established ministries to provide further opportunities to spread the gospel.One facet is nurturing believers through the Mini Bible College (MBC). Translated into dozens of languages, the MBC provides a four year bible study from Genesis to Revelation. It is broadcast via radio, and an amazing hand held, solar-powered audio player along with written study materials. This study program was written by a man in a wheelchair and now his love for the scripture reaches around the world. It’s amazing how God can go where we can’t.The second focus is giving a permanent home for bodies of believers who don’t have a church building. ICM has built nearly 5,000 churches around the world. They will only construct a building for active churches who commit to planting at least five daughter churches in their country. Although the church is not the building, their experience shows the multiplied growth of new believers when there is a focal point for spreading the gospel.
The best part of the evening was meeting Bishop Mgullu Kilimba from Tanzania. Jesus absolutely bubbled from Mgullu. I could picture the springs of living water as he told of planting more than 100 churches - and that was even before he started working with ICM. You can meet Mgullu at http://cmftz.org. He is a part of Christian Mission Fellowship. As we visited during dinner, his easy, infectious laugh reminded me what the joy of Lord really is. As he described the ministries through CMF he was so animated, I imagined him dancing as David did. Besides planting churches he helps provide wheelchairs for the disabled, medical aid missions and drilling wells or boring holes as he calls it. Mgullu is probably close to my age and I felt small. Not because he made me feel that way, but because He is such a dynamic part of God’s plan for Tanzania. How blessed I am to meet a believer across the globe so I can pray for him and his ministry. What an encouragement it is to see how God is working all over the world by Christian ministries and believers coming together. It makes me realize what a BIG God we have and how small this earth is to Him. I want to see what God is doing and climb on board. I want Jesus to bubble.
