Hello Fam!!
Another month has flown by here in Ghana! As I was preparing and brainstorming what to share in this month’s update, a certain sermon I listened to by David Platt kept coming to my heart and mind. The sermon was title: “The Secret to Contentment”. The secret is for Jesus to be one’s total life… He who gives us strength! He began the sermon speaking on Christian Generosity. To give generously one must have an open heart to see the people in need around them. Open hands mean to be generous to the extent where there is the opportunity to serve or give. I share this because as I listened to the sermon, it spoke directly to my heart and I immediately identified with what Paul was writing in Philippians 4:10-20 as he said that the gifts he received were like a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. (v18)
I am so honored to share that because of generous giving of open hearts and hands from people in the States, many people here in Ghana have received and rejoiced in The Lord! By God’s grace, even during difficult circumstances, there is continuous giving. My heart is full and overwhelmed with gratitude for how God continues to show His love and care for the broken, and He chooses to do that through you. Thank you.
The photos above are just a glimpse of the result from the giving! Each month we have been able to do a food distribution here in Zuime to the most vulnerable children in the area and their families. The photo with all the medical supplies and medications is what is purchased consistently to stock up my medical bag with wound care supplies. The wound care supplies are used mostly to dress Lakpo’s wound every three days, but at times there are first aid emergencies! Then there is medications that are purchased monthly for Prince and Rumana as well as pain medicines for people in the community who may be sick. All of these resources are used to meet basic physical needs in order to build a bridge of love to the true Great Physician!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
I would like to share the stories of these two people who have been going through great discomfort and trouble. The first photo is of a young boy named Wisdom. He is about 12 years old and has a severe mental and physical disability. I have known Wisdom since I first came to Ghana, but just within the past few months he has become very ill. Wisdom is being raised by his elderly grandmother who practices the Fetrish practices of idol worship. She had no money to get Wisdom help, so I went with one of my roomates, Sonia, to check on him after the grandmother had sent for me to come see him. I was deeply troubled to see his condition. What Wisdom needed even more than his desperate physical needs was someone to show compassion to him and his grandmother. Sonia and I discussed with the grandmother a treatment plan to get him healthier. He had lost so much weight and he looked like he was in so much pain as he would cry out in distress anytime I tried to clean the bed sores he had on his hips and shoulders from laying on the ground with no muscle mass on his body. It was heart breaking to know a child was going through this type of suffering, but that is why the scripture above brings such peace…. Our comfort abounds through Christ! Wisdom now has clean clothes, medications, wound care supplies, a sleeping pad, and healthy food to help him put on weight. This was all possible because the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort is using open hearts and open hands through Christ to comfort Wisdom in his suffering!
The man’s name in the other photo is Yao. He too was in desperate need of comforting. Yao is an man in his 70s who suffered a stroke many years ago and recently became very ill. He was abandoned and neglected by his own family members. Unfortunately, this is a common practice here. Yao’s own brothers locked him in a room for him to die in hopes that they could have a funeral for him and receive money and gifts. I was connected with Yao’s situation through one of the local pastors. He brought the issue to me, and it was no question about whether to help or not! Again, because of the recent generous givings, we were able to immediately take Yao to hospital to be admitted. He was there for three days before being discharged. At this local hospital there was not much more they could do for him other than give him a few IV drips and send him away with medications. There is a woman that lives near Yao who is the one that alerted the pastor of the situation. This woman of God volunteered to be the caretaker for Yao during this desperate time of need. The past month, this precious woman of faith has come twice a day to feed and bath Yao. She has been threatened physically and received verbal abuse from Yao’s brothers because of how she is helping Yao, but she has stood strong and refused to stop helping because she has proclaimed that God is who she serves! We have been able to bless her weekly with extra food supplies for her and her family of 6 children.
Every child is precious in God’s sight and no matter what their living conditions may be, He can restore! Also, what is hidden in darkness will come to light! I believe that God will use Wisdom’s life to transform his grandmother’s Fetish lifestyle to put her faith in the One true God of all comfort! I also believe that God will use Yao’s caretaker to break down the walls of anger and frustration of Yao’s brothers to soften their hearts for accepting the grace and love of Christ!
This is the strong woman that has graciously taken on the responsibility of caring for Yao. In my opinion she is the definition of a Proverbs 31 woman.
It was a joy to attend the baby naming ceremony of my friend Jennifer’s new baby girl! This is a traditional cultural ceremony called “Outdooring” for a newborn child. This ceremony is not performed until the child is two weeks old. Until the ceremony the baby is not named or allowed to leave the house. Meet baby Jessica! I had the blessing of being apart of naming this baby girl!
These are a few more photos I wanted to share to sum up the pure joy it is to live in community with the people here. Are there hardships? Yes! Are there times of frustration and even anger? Yes! Is God in control and do all things work together for His good?! YES!!! For example… Rumana has a smile that lights up even the darkest of days. She experiences insults from her siblings and other children daily, she struggles to get around and communicate because she cannot walk or speak full sentences, and she often has seizures due to her sickle cell anemia….but she smiles! Her smile gives me such joy and a continuous hope that God is using her as a platform of Christ’s grace and love for her whole community!
Prince has literally went from near death to new life! His story is a testimony of hope for Wisdom and Yao….not just of a physical recovery, but that through these stories of personal hardship and suffering, God can draw others to Himself! The last photo in the cluster above is from Ghana’s capital city of Accra. I traveled to Accra with my roomates to visit another friend who had given birth. One evening, as we walked back to the place where we were staying, I could not help but be burdened for the overwhelming brokenness we were walking through. We passed young girls who were caught in the lifestyle of selling themselves for sex, unsupervised children roaming around, and many other heart breaking scenarios. The harvest is plentiful.. and the urgency is great to go and be open hearts and open hands to the brokeness around us!
I will end by referring to another truth from the sermon I listened to about being content in any situation we are facing. No matter the circumstance, we can have the sweet inward state of perpetual joy, peace, and strength that comes from Christ alone. Only God is all-sufficient and only He can transform a life from darkness to light. One person at a time, I pray that God’s all sustaining love will reign in the hearts of the beautiful people here and among the Nations.
PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISES:
God is working in Prince’s brothers life Precious as he is coming for Bible study every Tuesday morning.
There are many conversations about faith happening among the Muslim women community.
Pray for protection and boldness over Yao’s caretaker and that her selfless love will soften the hearts of Yao’s brothers.
Pray for Wisdom to continue to gain strength and for his grandmother to leave behind her idol worship practices to follow Christ fully.
And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen 1 Peter 5:10-11
Chelsi
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