My day in bullet points...
- 9 am prayer and worship over the day and pancake party to come at night. God met 3 of us in unison with an answer. I received that we were to go in the direction of how Jesus taught the children.. teaching them to obey and fear God and the story of Jonah was placed on my heart. Then I asked if anyone else had received a word... Hayley, an intern, said.. "God told me it has already been given so I have just been praying for that persons boldness." Then I asked Steph, another intern, and she said she'd heard one story she thought, but then she also heard Jonah. I snapped my fingers and said that's it!! God just told me the direction for the stories performed each week to be in the focus of obeying and fearing God and then He said Jonah!" It lined up with each of us and the word for the story had indeed already been given. Steph and I both received it!!" This is how we decide on the story for both the women and children every week and every week God does a mini miracle in our midst this way. WHOOOOHOOO! Why wouldn't a living God want to be involved in the making of every major decision?! Ask, receive, simple peasy.
- leading spiritual development class in our living room on the topic of law as the foundation of repentance leading to Salvation and true conversion.
- Lunch and tracking down the Sam's card
- Sam's run for pancake party supplies
- back home to clean out the fridge, put away groceries, and prep for the kids to come over. Knock on the door and personal update on my neighbors infected toe "Can I show it to you?" "No, no that all sounds really good, I believe you."
- African girls come over to my kitchen for discipleship (teaching the creation story, memorizing a new verse, prayer, and eating goldfish and orange dreamsicle cookies)
- 30 minutes of prayer for the pancake party happening later in the living room while the African girls finish writing their verses in the kitchen
- Dinner and attempt to sneak away to rest... failed attempt
- Knocks at the door from a neighbor needing a ride to the farmer's market
- Running through the story drama for the night with the intern performing it to check for refugee English issues
- Swallow quickly the dinner on my plate still waiting for me and start flipping pancakes with now cold sandwich in hand
- Kids fill the place in minutes.... more pancakes....
- everybody on the lawn listening to the story, lap full of Muslim children, one crying from her mom just dropping her off and leaving quickly to care for a sick neighboring Muslim women. ( a hidden miracle that she could even come as her mom had previously forbidden it). Rocking, holding, then up to debrief the story and leaving them hanging for next time..
- Clean up... kids all pitch in!
- Quick greasy shirt change and off to Ali's home to show him the Jonah story and invite him to an apartment to see church community worship
- Meeting more of Ali's family, talking about Muslims and Christians with his father, watching their living room fill up with even more Iraqi visitors as a matchmaking happens right in front of us with two Muslim friends they are putting in front of each other to meet as a result of the man deciding he wants to be married now. The day just always gets more interesting! The one being matched promises to give us the details of what happened at the cooking class on Saturday. Poor woman.
- Worship at a summer intern couple's apartment and our Muslim friend Ali showing up with his 3 Iraqi brothers in a little living room packed with white people praising Jesus. They see the story of Jonah as Willis, one of the summer interns, acts it out for everyone spontaneously. I scoot under the table to make more room in the overcrowded in such a good way living room. Willis was so willing! How God can use a willing vessel...
- Off to Waffle House with my MES girls to destress and enjoy oneanother
- Home at 12 and writing this update to my bigger family outside of Clarkston because what God is doing is just too big to keep to myself!!!
- And there it is, in all its beautiful hilarity and purposeful surprises, love you all!! Please pray for my future and what it holds after Aug 1st when my commitments here end.
- A much needed 2 am goodnight to you all as it all starts gloriously again at 9 am!!
- Jenna
