God has intervened. Let’s ripple.

February 2, 2011

A maid dropped a bag of rugs. Her hands were full with two buckets BURSTING to the max with precarious brooms, mops, soaps, and other cleaning supplies. I hastily ran to pick up the spilled bag. It was no big deal. Such a simple act. And yet, she said thank you to me about 10 times. I do not exaggerate. “Thank you! Thank you, my friend. Thank you.” Etc. It made me think, why don’t we do this more often? Just show a little love and kindness. Go out of your way to pick up something that a stranger has dropped. Open the door for someone. Smile at a new face. Ask every worker you come in contact with how they are, and how their day has been going. Life is comprised of many little things. But then, the little things add up to big things. What will you have if you spend your life for yourself? You’ll be alone, because you never cared for others, and now they don’t care for you. I encourage YOU to be the person who is known as “love.” How do you do that? It can be as simple as a smile. I was reminded of the old standard “treat others how you want to be treated today during a lecture by Michael Cassidy. That man was INSTRUMENTAL in ending apartheid!!! People, it was literally a MIRACLE that apartheid ended and peace took reign. Please buy his book, A Witness For Ever. (<- British spelling.) God showed himself in the 1994 elections. The only word that truly describes what happened is MIRACULOUS. After peace took over, headlines all around the world claimed, “God has intervened.” And He did.

I want to share two things that Michael Cassidy did that assisted in ending apartheid peacefully:

1)  He called a prayer chain for two years. He wanted there to be prayer for South Africa for 2 years, 24/7. People and churches from all over the world called in, offering their prayers. Enough people signed up to fill TWO YEARS with constant prayer for South Africa!

2)  Mr. Cassidy created a weekend getaway for members of the government. He got them all together and took them on Safari, took them swimming, had parties, etc. In this time, they built relationships with one another. The purpose of this was “you must understand the other before you are understood.” With these newfound relationships, the men who were in office felt comfortable enough to come forward with why they were enforcing apartheid. The most common reason was a painful experience caused by someone of another race. It was personal vengeance. After hearing one another’s dreadful stories, the men began apologizing to each other. It was the beginning of understanding. It was the beginning of peace.

God truly intervened in South Africa, and He truly intervened in my life. I took a step back today to think about how I really got here. The only way of explanation is intervention. If I had it my way, I would be in New York City, singing and dancing right now. I would never have gone to APU. I would have never met such amazing people. I would never have gone to South Africa. I would never be the person I am right now. And that would be quite a shame.

I want to encourage you to stop leading your life. If you trust in where the Lord wants to lead you, your life will be richer and fuller in ways you cannot imagine. You will be blessed. Now, I am not saying it will be easy. It will probably be harder. But what do you want out of life? The best? Or the easiest? I want the best. And I KNOW I don’t know what that is. SO I choose to rely on Him who cares for me just as much as He cares for South Africa.

My dear friend Jenn told me this story, and I wanted to share it with you.

This is her story:

“I thought of you as a story was related in church today. Guest speaker Mike Beaux was talking about how we need to be willing to sacrifice all we have for the Lord (even our precious children), remembering they are all the Lord's to begin with. He had to remind himself of this as he said goodbye to his 17-year-old daughter as she went to serve the Lord in Haiti for a year (this was a few years back). He talked about bawling in the airport as he watched her plane fly away, but also about the peace he received when remembering that she was the Lord's and being used for HIS purposes. Internet service was spotty, but one night his daughter told him of the best night for her yet.

She was by herself at her home base camp that evening when a desperate man had run in looking for her. She had accompanied a friend of hers, a nurse, the night before as her friend helped a Haitian woman deliver a baby. The man assumed Katie (I'll call her that...can't remember her real name) was also a nurse and came to get her to deliver his baby. No one was there but Katie, the situation was desperate, and she had no choice but to grab a flashlight and go with him.

She entered the woman's hut near to panic. She was only 17, had nothing but a flashlight, and had no idea how to deliver a child. The woman was naked and screaming and looking to Katie for help. Katie was praying the Lord would help remind her of every single detail from the night before. Then a Voodoo witch doctor lady walked into the hut. The pregnant woman was terrified. Katie could feel the deep presence of evil in the room. The witch doctor stared at her, and the pregnant woman's eyes got huge. The witch doctor began circling the lady and chanting. She spread an ointment on the woman's belly and mumbled incantations, and again on her forehead. The witch doctor hatefully stared at Katie and kept chanting over the woman. Katie didn't know what to do. She was only 17, she was out of her element, she had no words...She just stared back at the evil woman, and then...

"Our God...is an awesome God

He reigns from heaven above...

...with wisdom, power, and love

Our God is an awesome God."

She sang stronger and stronger.

The witch doctor glared at her...then panicked and ran out! Katie delivered that baby that evening and they all prayed together over the newborn child, rejoicing that it had most certainly been born with the blessing of the strength of the Lord and NOT under the Voodoo curse of evil.

Mike finished the story by saying, "Way to ripple girl, way to ripple." He alluded to an earlier illustration of jumping whole-heartedly into a pool and creating wave after wave, ripple after ripple and that THAT should be the way we respond to the Lord when He invites, "Follow me." We shouldn't ease in toe by toe. No way! We should dive in and make waves, spreading His word/will/love, with ripple effects lasting far beyond what we can see. What waves had Katie made that night? Who would that child grow up to be? Who would he effect? How would the ripple keep going?”

This story inspires me so! I love that the girl was 17 (like me) and that she had NO IDEA how to help the woman! Through our weakness, He is strong.

If we all decide to be LOVE to others, and to LISTEN to the call of the LORD, we will “ripple.” I believe that if we, together, commit to some serious JUMPING when Jesus says, “Follow me,” our ripples will be contagious. And soon, our world will be a better place.

Now, who wants to ripple with me?