A Worshipful Heart

Prayer Calendar For Rwanda

You asked for it so here it is! Our daily prayer calendar for Rwanda so you can see where we are and what we're doing and know how to pray on our behalf. I probably will not have access to internet while in Rwanda but will text updates to Twitter which automatically updates my Facebook page. I can't see your comments there until I return home but I'd still love to hear from you. It's FREE for me to receive texts in Rwanda so feel free to send me an encouraging message and let me know you're praying. I may not reply but know that it makes me feel so happy to hear that you're praying. Let me know who you are as well. (Sometimes I don't recognize numbers!) 

I ask you to pray for me as I will bear additional responsibilities this week. I am - of course - leading a a worship conference for over 200 church leaders one day, and I will be leading one of the church planting teams as well. Additionally, I am bringing the group home at the end of the trip while the Wagners stay in Rwanda to welcome another group. So I will need to be physically and emotionally strong and also have lots of stamina and discernment for the days ahead!

Tuesday, May 17 - We depart for Rwanda. We spend tonight in Washington D.C. so pray that our luggage makes connections and that we rest well. Pray for our families as we say good-bye and for all of those last minute details to be handled. I am specifically asking for prayer as my stomach is hurting quite badly today. Pray for healing! And pray for safety as we travel.

Wednesday, May 18 - Fly away to Africa. Our flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is 16 hours long, then another 3 hours to Kigali, Rwanda. Pray for us to rest well on the flights and to feel as comfortable as possible. Pray that we'll be able to hear from God as we move towards the mission field. Also pray that we will begin to get to know our teammates that we'll be working with. Continue to pray for safety and pray that God will go before us!

Thursday, May 19 - Arrive in Kigali, Rwanda. Pray for all of our luggage to arrive safely and for things to go smoothly as we check in to our hotel for the evening. Pray for sufficient rest as we are entering a very demanding week.

Friday, May 20 - Mom and I go to Akagara Game Park to see the animals and then we all travel to Gisenyi, which will be our home for the week. The trip is 3 1/2 hours long so pray for us to travel with safety, again praying that the presence of God surround us and that he goes before us to fight any battles.

Saturday, May 21 - We divide up and go to our villages to work and begin prayer walking, sharing the gospel, and training nationals. Pray for God to prepare hearts and minds to receive the Good News that Jesus saves. Pray for strongholds of witchcraft, alcoholism, hatred and religious spirits to be broken in Jesus' name. Pray for hearts to be open to the love and grace of God. 

Sunday, May 22 - Our teams will go to their mother churches to encourage and celebrate with them, then we will travel to our mission point villages and begin to share the gospel and equip believers. Pray for unity with pastors and for many to come to know Jesus this day!

Monday, May 23 - We will work at our mission points to share the gospel and equip and train believers. Again, our prayer for this day is that many will say "yes" to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Pray for rest and strength and clarity of mind as we continue to battle jetlag and fatigue. 

Tuesday, May 24 - The rest of the team will work as usual in their mission points while I go with Anna, director of E3 Rwanda, to conduct a worship discipleship conference called "A Worshipful Life". We will be worshiping, praying and learning with over 200 pastors and church leaders from this area of Rwanda. What a privilege this is! Pray for the Holy Spirit to move as he wills, in mighty and powerful ways. Pray for open minds and hearts and for the presence of God to touch deep places of our hearts. Pray for understanding and clarity as well so that they can teach their churches what I will be sharing with them. Pray for stamina and energy and passion for me as I teach all day.

Wednesday, May 25 - I'm back in the field at my mission point and this is our last FULL day working. Pray that the nationals will now be doing the work themselves. Pray that they will have a vision for sharing their testimonies, sharing the Gospel, and encouraging the new believers in these villages.

Thursday, May 26 - Last time in our villages! It's always so bittersweet! Pray for these churches to grow and flourish and be made strong through the might of God. Pray for God to keep and nourish the new believers we'll be leaving behind. Pray for the churches to shine like lamps in the darkness! And pray for our Victory Celebration to go well and for the pastors to be greatly encouraged.

Friday, May 27 - We head home! We will travel from Gisenyi to Kigali and will then begin the long journey home. Pray for safety as I guide this group home and pray for all of our flights to go well and connect as scheduled. Pray for our luggage to make it as well!

Saturday, May 28 - We're home! Pray for sweet reunions with our families and for us to be able to live in obedience to all God has shown and taught us during our time in Rwanda. Pray specifically for God to open doors for us to be able to share our experiences. I know that I don't normally get to do this when I return home and it makes coming home a bit sad because we want to share! Continue to pray for God to strengthen and establish the new believers and new churches. Pray blessings for our brothers and sisters in Rwanda! 

Heading Back to Rwanda! Can You Pray?

Next Tuesday, May 17th my mom, Linda Johnson, and I are heading to Rwanda together! It will be my fourth trip and my mom's first trip. I am very excited to share this experience with my mother! I can't wait to see what God will do in our lives and in the lives of our Rwandan friends as well. While we're there we're going to be sharing the gospel, helping plant churches and I will be leading an "A Worshipful Life", a worship discipleship conference for over 200 pastors and church leaders. 

We have both felt so distracted in the last few weeks with all that has gone on. My parent's place was heavily hit by the tornado that hit the Guntersville  area early on April 27th so it's been especially difficult for my mom. We also know that Satan wants nothing more than to distract and defeat us, so we ask for the greatest gift we can ask of you - that you commit and that you pray for us.

You can sign up here to choose a day to pray and let us know what scripture you will pray for us!

 

Will We Walk On By?

We are in the midst of our own "Good Samaritan" story....

 

In Luke 10:25-37 we see that a rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus said, "What does the law say?" and the young ruler answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus answered "You've got the correct answer. Do this and you will live." But in a desire to justify himself the young ruler said "But who is my neighbor?" and Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan, a man who took time out of his busy life to stop and care for another, despite not knowing him at all. Throughout scripture we see that connection between loving God and loving others. In fact, in 1 John we are told that we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we cannot love our brother, whom we have. 

 

The Good Samaritan is a story we have all heard so much that we probably have quit really hearing it, if you know what I mean. Yet we  - especially those of us in North Alabama - are in the midst of this very story and we have a choice. Will we continue on our busy way, crossing the road, driving AROUND the damage all around us, ignoring it now that we have our power and conveniences back? Or truly sacrificing of ourselves, our resources, our time, our energy, really seeing and noticing the need of our neighbor? Are we satisfied with "tipping" our neighbor (and I realize that I am challenging myself here) and giving something that is truly not costly when what is needed is our full involvement, our full commitment? 

 When the tornadoes hit Alabama, Phil and I wondered how we could help and how the Give Worship Project could get involved. Our church, Epic Church, in Decatur has done a phenomenal job in providing housing and supplies for those in neighboring counties (not just in Decatur) who are uninsured and /or having their claims rejected by FEMA. (ironically, usually because they don't have insurance!) Friends, they are working with the poor, the forgotten, those who have no other help, those who have lost it all - usually these families are in very poor, rural areas. So we decided to partner with their efforts and are excited to have had friends of the GWP provide TWO trailers to needy families - one physically donated and one bought through monetary donations. We'd love to keep on providing! Epic has the names of 62 families who do not have homes, or insurance or help from FEMA. Many of them are living in tents or sleeping in their cars if they have one that survived the storms.

 Let's get to work on providing our third trailer! Be creative! Take up a collection at work, or in your ministry team or small group or church. You can make a big difference in a family's life!

 

Go here to give: www.giveworship.com

You can also donate a used car! All gifts are tax-deductible!

 Read below for a wonderful testimony from Sonia Brown, whose family chose to donate their travel trailer to a family in need.

 "With so many affected after the tornados, it was extrememly hard to know how to even help. My heart bled for these people who lost so much. We like many, spent the following week helping the neighborhood dig it's self out of the endless trees that had fallen everywhere. Including right down the middle of our neighbors home. They were ok thankfully and they also had a great insurance company that really got things rolling for them in their whole process. Which led me to think about those who didn't have insurance and what that would look like if you had such a disaster happen to you and not know where to turn for help.

 One night I was out on our back porch and happened to see what was now our eye sore of a travel trailer in our back yard. Not that it was ugly, but you see, we had bought this trailer to stay in while we finished building our home. I was surprised at through that process how much I began to really appreciate that trailer. It was home for the time, and it was all that we had to provide shelter for our 3 little ones. But after 3 months and a very hard winter, I couldn't run fast enough into our finally finished home. I thought to myself, how wonderful that would be to be able to give it to one of these families that had just lost everything. Then, I saw Jan's post the next morning. I didn't have any money to give since my husband just retired from the military and hasn't found another job yet. But I did have this trailer. After talking it over and calling Jan, it led us to Epic Church in Decatur. Which was great, but I was a little saddened that it wasn't going to someone up the road here in my community. Either way, it was still a need and we were ready to give. The people were wonderful and excited. They came and picked it up. They informed us then it was going to a family just a couple streets over. They didn't know what I had secretly hoped for, but God sure did. I believe he heard that whisper of my heart. I think if we look around long enough, God will show us how to love on these people. We are so thankful for the opportunity to serve in such a way."

 The pain and need around us demands that we become people who give sacrificially. This is our chance to be like the Good Samaritan. 

 How can you stop and care?

Call me if you have questions!

 

Just Listen

One day this week I "worked" all over Lawrence County and Phil Campbell, Alabama and all I really did was listen. I listened to people as they told their story. And I said, "I am so sorry. How can I help you?" And as simple as that sounds, I do believe it helped.

 One good ole' country boy told me "Thank you for coming. It's good to have moral support, a pat on the back, and somebody to talk to. Otherwise you might just explode and have an ulcer or heart attack if you keep it stuffed all in. When you don't talk about it it will make you sick." (he was more graphic than this!)

Ahhh. Wisdom from the sticks of Alabama! I love it!

Who knew that simply listening and chatting and caring might be such a huge gift? My entire life I've been criticized and teased for my ability to strike up a conversation with almost anyone. Today it actually seemed to come in handy!

I remember a traumatic experience I went through a few years ago where afterwards I was told that a trauma victim needs to tell their story 3,000 times to heal. I remember feeling quite hopeless. Here I was, diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and as far as I could tell, no one wanted to hear my story ONCE, much less 3,000 times! One day a friend from out of town joined me for lunch and said "Jan, I've heard a little of what happened, but will you tell me your entire story?"

And so I unloaded on him the whole sorry tale. The feelings. The fears. The worries. The ugliness. And I will never forget how he listened so patiently and asked good questions and then he took my hand and with tears in his eyes he said, "I'm so sorry. That is horrible." It was a pivotal and healing moment in my journey forward because for the very first time I felt fully heard. He didn't try to correct or fix, he just listened, empathized, and loved. He did not diminish my pain, but instead he honored the reality of it. This was something that had been missing for me. 

I found out later that following the disaster of Hurricane Katrina (a natural disaster) and the Rwandan Genocide ( a man initiated violent event) they sent in people JUST TO LISTEN. To hear the stories. To pat a back. To acknowledge the pain and the horror of the situation. And to eventually encourage and empathize. Apparently people will not heal if they cannot share what has happened to them.

 The powers that be have catagorized this tornadic event - 25 tornadoes hitting hundreds of places killing hundreds of people destroying thousands of homes - a Catagory 1 Disaster. That means it is on the same level as Katrina and 9/11! So this is a hugely traumatic event and it happened right here in our backyard. In the state we love. Among people we love.

So when you're going about your day, don't just complete your task - don't just use your chainsaw or put up your tarp or even get started back at work - but instead pause for a few moments and ask for someone's story and let them share their pain, their fear, their hope, their confusion, their blessings. We all need to share what we've gone through, even if our family is safe and our house is left standing.

So listen and remember this. No fixing, or correcting or teaching or preaching. Just listening. Whether it's the woman who waits on you in Dollar General or the person whose house you are helping with, or a friend, take time to listen. It helps us process and move forward. And it connects us to one another. In the end it's the stories we remember.

And we all want to know that our stories matter. 

A listening ear is a gift! And it's free! Use yours tomorrow!

 

Give A New Beginning

Who could have imagined what this past week has held? I don’t even know where to begin to describe what I’ve seen and experienced and felt in the last five days. And there is no way to share with you the scenes of devastation we’ve witnessed across Alabama. Perhaps one day I will be able to put it down in words but I’m not quiet there yet. 

 But what I can describe to you is the need I’ve seen. Phil and I have worked mainly in rural Lawrence County. We chose to work in this area at first because the Monrovia/Harvest area was filled to capacity with volunteers and our church, Epic Church, in Decatur was an EMA drop off center for this area. We also had a heart for the rural areas that get much less attention and help. We knew we’d be sent in to work in areas where many people lived in trailers and had lost absolutely everything due to the violence of these storms. When we went in I was not prepared, however, to walk across field after field, hardly being able to see where a house or trailer had been. Neighborhoods were completely destroyed - and I mean completely. As we worked to sort belongings, most of what littered the ground was simply that - litter.

 That’s when I realized that there was nothing left. Nothing. Not a toothbrush or clothes and certainly not a safe place called home....

What is even harder is that many of these families lost family members as well, and have no money, or insurance to rebuild their lives. Waiting on an insurance check is not an option. Some are even unemployed because their place of business was destroyed. And I saw such deep discouragement on their faces as they realized all they had worked for - and were now unable to replace for their families - was gone. And they were not certain what the first step could possibly be to beginning again. 

These families need love. And they need hope. They need a new beginning.

 We have a unique opportunity to make a difference in ONE family’s life in a very deep way. Epic Church has some RVs available for $2000-$2500 each. So for $2000 we could put a family in it’s own home. Today we visited the family that was given trailer #1. (picture below) They have two children, have lost every single thing they own except a vehicle and they were so excited to not have to sleep in a tent any longer. The husband said “I slept like a baby in that trailer last night.” How humbling. How wonderful to get to be a part of something like that. 

We are blessed to be a blessing. Yes, I know that is not original to me, but it is so true. God has blessed us that we’d be able to live generous lives that bless and show love for others. If you have a few extra dollars in your pocket right now it might truly be “for such a time as this” when the needs around us are so great. Perhaps - for Alabama residents - this exercise in simplicity due to lack of electricity and internet or local services might have prepared us to spend our money a little differently - on others instead of ourselves.

We could consider this a “thanks offering” to the Lord for his sustaining grace in our lives despite the storms, and for his faithful love that endures forever no matter where we are! (something frequently practiced in OT times)  

So Phil and I invite you to give with us. Give a home. You can do that by donating on the Give Worship website. All donations are tax-deductible and appreciated. 

 Go be a blessing!