God Spoke to Me

OK, so I've never heard the audible voice of God, to the best of my knowledge, but one of the coolest moments from the trip was about the closest I think I've ever been to it.

As we made plans for our time in Addis Ababa, it was really important to us that we take in as much of the sights and sounds of what God is doing for orphans in that city as possible and towards that end, we hooked up with Children's HopeChest who recently started doing sponsorships of orphanages in Ethiopia. So, as I said in one of the posts on the trip, we spent a considerable amount of time with Peter Abera, their country director and loved hearing his story, his heart, and then getting to see what God was doing through their ministry in the lives of orphans. We also set aside funds especially for the purpose of blessing those orphans and their caregivers in whatever way God would have us.

The first day we met Peter, as I said, the orphans were not at the orphanage because it was a holiday. This particular orphanage, the Kichene orphanage, is a private orphanage that is very much Christ-centered. The kids do not live at the orphanage, but live either with a legal guardian, a single parent, or perhaps even both parents who are simply too poor to care for their children adequately. They come to school every day where they are fed breakfast and lunch and sent home with a snack in case they don't get dinner that night. The school is led by great Christian men and women with a passion for children and a commitment to teaching them about Christ in addition to their school learning and life skills training.

As we toured the school and saw the classrooms, at some point, Brandy asked about their books. We saw some lying around, but mostly old and worn and not very many of them. Peter said in response, that yes, these were their books and that they needed new ones. For whatever reason, I remembered that moment vividly and remembered thinking, "I wonder what we could do about that." When we returned for the party the next day, it was clear that the Lord wanted us to use some of the money we had set aside to purchase some books for the children. I approached Peter and asked about where we could get books and when we could do it before we left. He spoke with Nicodemus, the director of that orphanage, and his response blew me away. He said that just that morning, the government had dropped in on the orphanage to do some kind of inspection. During that time, they mentioned to him the shortage of books and told him if they didn't get new books, the orphanage would be shut down. He then said, "You must have been listening to God!"

That was it! I'm telling you, not one person there mentioned this to me prior to it, nor did Peter in some manipulative way point out the pitiful collection of books. God in His providence laid that on our hearts so that we could be used of Him to meet that need. What an amazing moment! We went Monday, bought a ton of books and had the joy of delivering them to the children that morning. Their hugs and kisses and shouts in Amharic-accented English of "Thank You!" were far more precious than any book we gave, so we walked away the blessed ones.

I was reminded of one of my new heroes of the faith, a guy named George Mueller. I beg you to take some time and listen to John Piper's biographical sketch of this great man of God (you can find it here http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/1531_George_Muellers_Strategy_for_Showing_God/). Mueller said that his primary aim in caring for orphans was not first and foremost the care of orphans in and of itself, but rather to show believers, all of whom discouragingly struggle with trusting God, that God can be trusted. That was it! That was his main reason for caring for orphans, because if God could take a poor man like him and care for the very least of these in ways only explained by God, perhaps it would increase the faith of others so that they might begin to take God at His word. O how my faith was increased this week, even as it has been increased each step of the way through this journey. Take some time to watch and listen to the songs of these children in the video below and pray that the Lord will increase your faith as a result.