Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Trusting God in Sickness and Success

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Trusting God in Sickness and Success

Week 8: July 6 to July 11, 2014

Week eight of my summer ministry and week three of doing clubs was an awesome week. I felt like this week, Chloe and I actually got a real taste of what our summer doing 5-Day Clubs would really be like. It only took us a couple days to fall into our own groove and way of doing things. And we are still figuring some things out, but this week finally felt less like we were preparing and more like we were actually doing! So that was exciting. We had two clubs this past week. One was in Rankin and the other in Elizabeth. We were happy to have our Westmoreland County friends come and help us with the Elizabeth club. We always have fun working with them. I have found that it is so much easier to be high energy when you have more people to work with as well. 

On the first night of soccer camp, the Elizabeth club, I had the privilege of teaching and then also leading some little ones to the Lord. My heart is always warmed when kids come over for counseling and respond to me asking why they came back with, “I want to ask Jesus to clean up my heart from sin.” We were blessed with some really great clubs this week. I really enjoyed our morning club in Rankin, the kids there were very sweet and eager to learn. We reached 123 kids this past week. We had the opportunity to lead 16 of them to Christ for the first time. We counseled several for assurance of their salvation and gave away 7 Bibles. I was very pleased with the way the week went. And I share these numbers not because of anything we have done by our own strength, but as a testimony to the work God is doing through us. I am so honored that God has allowed us to take this part in children’s lives. I can’t wait to reach even more children in the rest of the summer!

I had a little bit of a health scare on Wednesday night and I was reminded that there is an enemy at work. I passed out right before our Elizabeth club started. I came to after about a minute to Chloe tapping me on the shoulder. I had been shaking a bit and moaning as if I was in pain. Instances like these are always extra concerning for me, given my history of seizures due to the brain infection I had when I was sixteen. I was concerned that this little episode had been an unexpected seizure. That was especially concerning because if it was a seizure, I would have to give up my license for six months. And I really can’t afford to not be driving, especially this summer. It was a very worrisome event. I have gone to a doctor and my chiropractor since then. Both have told me they believe it was a vasovagal reaction to either kneeling, having pulled a muscle in my neck shortly before, or a combination of both. While they don’t think it was a seizure, I am still going to go to a neurologist to get checked out as a precaution. So please pray that all of the reports will be seizure free and that God would continue to bless me with good health this summer.

The whole incident was pretty scary, but I was reminded how important it is to trust God in circumstances like these. It reminded me that I am so limited in what I am able to do. But it stretched me to trust God and remember that he is not limited in anything that he does! I’ve been reading through the Psalms in my personal devotions and I was making my way through Psalm 37 this week. It was great timing because the psalm is pretty much all about God being faithful to those that follow him and defending them from the enemy. One part of the Psalm says, “Wait for the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.” This was such a great reminder to me that I need to be praying expectantly, waiting for God to answer my prayer as I follow and serve him. For this reason, why should I fear? What can man or the enemy do to me when I have a God who is faithful and protects his children. And because of that, even the possibility of seizures shouldn’t give me reason to worry. God is way bigger than anything that could harm my body. So though the situation was scary, it was also a good reminder that I need to trust God and pray expectantly.

Keep praying! Pray that all the reports as the result of appointments I’ll have to go to will continue to point towards being seizure free. Pray that God would keep the enemy from me and the work of CEF Pittsburgh this summer. Pray for endurance and energy as the long weeks go on and we have three clubs next week. And pray that we would continue to be able to reach many children and have even more make decisions for Christ.