Before we left I posted what I felt the Lord leading me to do during the six sessions with the Free Methodist African Area Missionary children--but I also acknowledged that I needed to hold those plans loosely. Yes, there was some rearranging of my plans as the retreat progressed but the Lord met us in each session and the kids responded with great depth--even the very youngest--to what the Lord had for them.
There were 14 amazing kids of various ages. We spent our time together laughing, worshiping, learning, experiencing, writing, listening and praying. We learned about who we are in Christ—the Lord makes us new, He changes us and gives us everything we need for a godly life. We talked about how the Lord can speak to them and use them NOW—they don’t have to wait until they are older. And we prayed A LOT! Here are a FEW of my highlights—not nearly all of them.
- Watching the kids worship— from at first being “shy” in worship to becoming confident in our praise and realizing that we are created to glorify the Lord.
- We talked about how the Holy Spirit can lead our prayers through thoughts He puts in our head. We brainstormed situations that we might find around us and prayer those situations might inspire. Later, at the next session, we prayer walked the grounds at Turtle Bay. The children prayed for safety of those there, protection on the pools, the beach front and the general grounds. We lifted our eyes and thanked the Lord for the moon and the stars, the palm trees, the breeze. We lowered our eyes thanking the Lord for the crabs that crawled, the chameleons, the flowers, etc. As guests passed us, we whispered prayers of blessing over them—that they would find the Lord in His creation. At the pool, unprompted by me, one of the older boys prayed that as the pool refreshes and cleanses our bodies, that the Lord would cleanse the hearts of those that swam—that they would meet the Lord.
- Less than 24 hours later, the 3.5 year old was missing for about 5 minutes—in the pool area. He was found quite a ways from the pool. We thanked the Lord and remembered the prayers prayed for safety on the grounds. Praise the Lord.
- We surrounded each set of brothers and sisters and laid hands on them. Two children prayed prayers of thanksgiving and blessing over each family. Even our 31/2 year old, hands on a friend’s shoulder, prayed “Dear Lord, thank you for the Millers. Please bless them” It was beautiful to watch the children minister in prayer to each other. These prayers were full of thanksgiving and blessing.
- As we finished up the Voyage of the Dawn Treader story, we made the connection that the Lord had met the kids at the retreat in a new fresh way—and just as Alsan told Lucy she would see him in her world under a different name, they too—the kids--would see the Lord in different ways in their homes in Africa—in their places of ministry. They needed to look for Him, spend time in prayer and listening for His voice.
- The kids learned two verses of Who We Are in Christ and blessed the parents by presenting them at the close of the retreat. “ In Christ, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms and we are given His spirit in our hearts as a pledge…ALL the promises of God are YES to us…”
- And we ended EVERY prayer with a “so be it” following each AMEN. The littlest ones thought I said “so beat it” at first. It was “caught” and as the retreat concluded you could hear even the adults say “so be it” and even “so beat it”! The Lord had to be smiling!
The Lord was so faithful to give me His direction for each session. These kids have the hand of the Lord on their hearts. I was blessed to meet them, teach them, play and pray with them. The church of Africa is in good hands—down to the youngest!
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