Nehemiah Teams: Josie's Angels

Showing posts with label Josie's Angels. Show all posts

Friday, July 13, 2012

Grow up in every way into Him.

I (Media Mary) have spent an awful lot of time with babies recently. It has been wonderful and messy and rewarding, but mostly the Lord has used it to remind me how important it is to grow up.

When we first become Christians, we are babies in the faith. We drink spiritual milk, as Paul put it. And at first, that's appropriate. None of the nannies complains that an 18-month-old is still wearing diapers or spilling their soup, because developmentally that's where they should be. But if that baby still struggled to feed themselves as an 8-year-old, it would be another matter. In fact, this summer I have seen several older children who, because of disabilities beyond their control, are physically and mentally still on the level of a 2-year-old. It's heartbreaking.

Spiritually, it's much the same. That's why discipleship is so important: without that growth and discipline, we would all still be baby Christians, stuck in a stage of life that we should have long outgrown. The Lord is mighty and sovereign, but He can't use a stagnant, immature Christian the way He can one who earnestly seeks growth and maturity. It is good and right that we should constantly be growing in Christ.

And it is good and right that our evangelism should always be followed by discipleship. We may not always be able to do the discipling ourselves, but we have a responsibility to our new brothers and sisters to find someone to help them grow in Spirit and in truth. The goal of Nehemiah Teams is not to make "converts," nor to perform a lot of baptisms, but to lead people to the truth of salvation and equip them to grow into mature, committed Christ followers who will, in turn, make more disciples.

So as you pray for all who will come to know Jesus Christ this summer through God's work in Nehemiah Teams, don't forget to pray for their growth and discipleship.
As my professor likes to say, "Mature believers act like mature believers, and mature believers help produce mature believers." May we all grow up in every way into Christ so that we may no longer be children!

"And he (Christ) gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."

- Ephesians 4.11-16

Josie's Angels: prayer update

(An excerpt from Ashley on the Josie's Angels nanny team)

"Remember A? She would not open up to anyone about her story, so I prayed over her last week to be able to trust someone with it. Well, tonight she sat me down. She told me her story. She told me about how the only time she ever felt loved by her father was when he took her to Manila and held her up to see the lights of the city. She told me about how much he hurt her. She told me that every time she goes out in public, she is terrified that he will find her and hurt her more.

Of course, by this time, I was sobbing. I told her my story I shower her my favorite verse - Ephesians 1:5. I told her that before she even existed God loved her. I told her that He loved her so much that He would adopt her and that even where her dad failed, where he hurt her, God healed. He loves, He rescues, He pursues her. I prayed for her, to be able to forgive, for her dad to come to know the Lord, for her to be and feel safe.

God has managed to continually give me chill bumps in the hottest place I have ever been."

As the nannies get to know each Angel personally, they are hearing more stories like A's. They have continued one-on-one dates with each girl, which is a great opportunity to pour out His love and speak truth into a specific situation. Please pray that the Lord would use that time for His glory! Pray that the nannies would constantly seek God's will in how they respond to every story and situation. Pray that the Angels would begin to find healing in their Father, and that their faith in Him would be genuine, not dependent on circumstances.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

God chose what is weak.

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards; not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." 1 Cor. 1.26-29

After being in Manila at New Faith Family Foundation/Kids International Ministries for a little over a week, I can tell you this: Paul got it right in that passage. But I would add that God also chooses the unorthodox, the unlikely, the illogical. He chooses them, and uses them, and He does it better than I could ever have imagined.
Having signed on with Nehemiah Teams simply as a media girl, I didn't know much about the nanny teams' job description. I certainly didn't know a thing about what God is doing at K.I.M. So for the past week, I've been absolutely amazed. Check out the K.I.M. website - I think you will be too.
The Long family founded K.I.M. several years ago. They've been in Manila since 1991. Their ministries include a children's home and nursery, a weekly maternity clinic for women in the community, a twice-daily "feeding" for kids in areas of extreme poverty, construction on a new health clinic and pool, and more that I probably don't know about yet. They employ cooks, drivers, and one very fiesty lady named Rona who is going to school to become their new midwife. Several families and individuals have come alongside the Longs to help serve in Manila. The depth and variety of ministries here is, in a word, incredible.
And it's a little crazy - in an unorthodox, unlikely, illogically wonderful way.

[no camera-shy kids at this feeding site!]

[Paige helps with a feeding in a squatter community, serving up the nutrient-rich chicken and vegetables that's lacking in most diets]

[Mary and Arvin, a neighborhood friend who has an undiagnosed mental issue. He is a sweetheart and a snuggler!]

It's crazy that Josie Long would go to cosmetology school in the U.S., return to Manila, and train local women to cut/style hair, give manicures and pedicures, and do facials and massages, but that's exactly what she did. And now a dozen previously impoverished women have a craft and a livelihood. It's crazy that what started out as a mentoring program would turn into Josie's Angels - a program with over 100 girls, focused on breaking the cycle of poverty and abuse, giving the girls an education and, most of all, caring for their spiritual needs and raising up disciples of Christ. It's especially crazy that 30 of those girls live together in one large house (and share 3 bathrooms!), called the JAZ home, where music blares and soccer balls fly and the bathroom is engulfed in a cloud of baby powder each morning. But they do, and it works, and the handprints of God are all over the place.

[Clarita, one of the youngest Angels]

[Tita (Aunt) Paige gives the caretakers a break at the NFF children's home]

Last night (Friday), as we led a Bible study at the JAZ home and watched Home Alone afterward, I looked around at 30 beautiful brown faces (and 4 white ones). Some of them know the Lord, and they thoroughly rejoice in being called His daughters. Some of them are just learning. All of them are being pursued by a Father and Healer, and He has called this nanny team to be a part of it.
The Kingdom is coming here, this day, in this way. Crazy.

- Media Mary