Reflections on Ministry

Last night, we had an outreach in Doryumu and it brought up some big reflections for me regarding ministry and Jesus and life here in Ghana. 

We showed the Jesus Film in Adangme. And I loved it. I didn't understand the language, but I understood the heart. 

It is strange how your heart can sometimes be given fresh eyes for something it has known to be true for so long.

I watched as Jesus began his ministry and God reminded me that Jesus was 30 years old when he started ministry. He died when he was 33 years old. He changed the world in three years. Not just the world then, but the world for all time.

I know that to be true, but for some reason, my heart saw it with fresh eyes last night...as I watched Jesus raise people from the dead, heal the sick, feed the hungry, set captives free, cleanse the broken...as I sat with people in a different world from the one I grew up in, a different language, a different culture, battling the some of the same issues that Jesus battled 2,000 years ago...I realized, yet again, that Jesus is alive and well in me. 

I am 31 years old now. I have been here for three years. And for some reason, my age and at this point in my ministry (and, yes, even my singleness) brought up feelings of kinship to the story of Christ. I have seen the sick healed, the hungry fed, the captives set free, and the broken made clean...I am the same age He was while he ministered on earth...and perhaps there is the hope that despite my weaknesses (and in His strength)...lives have been changed.

All because: Jesus is alive and well...in me. What a privilege! What an honor! What a joy! 

I know that my little place in Ghana will not change the world as we know it...but I do know that the world has been changed for our 35 little rescues...that for the students that attend our school each day, their world is changed...and perhaps if these ones get it...if they come to understand that Jesus can be made alive and well in THEM...well, perhaps we CAN see the world change.

All I know is that, as I reflected on the sacrifice of Jesus, the beauty of his life, I am beyond grateful.

And I am in awe that He has the power to change lives today. 

And that He can use me to see that happen.

Hallelujah!