Lisa's Story

[Today's guest blogger is my friend Lisa.  Let me tell you a little bit about Lisa; she is a single mom of 3 young boys.  She is not only a student, but she also works full time.  Lisa is also a fairly young believer who started attending our home group about a year ago.  Her heart is tender towards the Lord and I enjoy her honesty as she has shared her struggles with us over this year.  I've also learned a lot from Lisa watching her serve the homeless of our area.  The love and care she gave to the Kenyan people was beautiful to see.  Oh, if only I could have a little more "Lisa" inside me!

Another thing Lisa has struggled with is extreme fear, yet to see her in Africa you would call her FEARLESS!  Yes, God redeems all things and uses everything for good for those who love him and let him. 

The point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't matter what your life circumstances are or how "mature" you are in Christ (because really, are any of us truly mature in Christ?) - if God calls you to do something seemingly huge, like going to Africa, then he has a plan for you there and you should say "yes".  Do not let your perceived weaknesses hold you back from doing what God wants you to do.  He delights in being strong when we are weak! - Julie]

Lisa sharing her testimony of how God delivered her from debilitating fear.  You would never know she struggled with fear by watching her in Africa!  God is so good!

From Lisa:

I've been racking my brain, trying to think of an experience that I want to share, and for some reason I keep thinking about what is probably one of the simplest experiences of the whole trip.  In fact, if I didn't (for whatever reason) have such a strong feeling about this guy I probably would have over-looked the whole thing.

One day while we were at the crusade, this tall, slim guy, that had obviously been drinking, came up to Emily and me just as I had offered her some gum.  He proceeds to lay out his hand, palm-up, towards Emily, as if demanding that she should give him the stick of gum I had given her.  Emily and I look at each other in disbelief, and then she slowly gives up her gum.  The man then turns and struts back towards his friends, and they all start to laugh and mock us.

About thirty minutes later I sat down to listen to Nathan preach.  Shortly after I sat down the same guy walks up and sits next to me but I didn't feel threatened in any way!  As a matter a fact, I found the whole situation pretty comical.  I was kind of entertained by him-wondering what he was going to do next!  I watched him out of the corner of my eye the whole time.  I even got my camera out and snapped a picture of him.


He sat there and listened to Nathan the whole time, and when Nathan asked if anyone would come up to recieve the Lord in prayer the man began to get very restless!  I continued to watch him as he rocked back and forth, until finally he got up and walked up to the stage.  I was filled with joy as I watched him walk up and pray for salvation!

It was an amazing thing to see God at work in this man!  All I could do was watch!  It was like God was telling me, "Lisa, I want you to see how big I really am!  I want you to just sit back and enjoy what I'm about to do in this man's heart!"

Some might think, "Yeah, lets see if he remembers that when he sobers up!"  I personally think that man will never forget what God did to him that day - whatever it was!  I know I won't!  In fact, out of all the stories that I could have shared about our trip this one has been speaking volumes to my heart lately.

I've attached the two pictures that I got of him.  It's hard to see him up at the stage, because he is standing behind someone, but he is the guy facing towards the left in the center of the picture, behind the guy in grey.

Love ya!

Lisa