Tuesday, January 30th…Day 3

Before we even began the women’s ministry, we got to meet Max.  He invited us to come up to see their new media center in the upstairs church.  Max shared that he heard Scott’s message Sunday night along with his testimony of his miraculous healing of cancer (I will do an entire blog post on this later). He shared that he was having trouble and had been told something was wrong with his prostate. He asked for prayer….so we prayed, and we called down heaven. Then, the woman helping him to paint also asked us to pray for her. Again, we did. Even when we do not know the depth of a request, God Almighty does. In our obedience, He is he One to minister to people’s hearts and souls.

Each night, back at the villas our team plus the Pikes would share a God moment from the day. I wish I could recall each and every one of them specifically. However, I think they will be covered in my day to day synopsis. The blessings went from us to the Pikes, from the Pikes to us, from us to the people and from the people to us. It was just such a powerful week. This began our first day of early rising to get to church (Vida Nueva) no later than 9:30.  Not so early, right? Well, we were about half an hour from the church. picking people up on the way. Plus, getting 8 people ready and fed to leave all prior to that happening. It wasn’t one of those super duper rise and shine before the sun type of trips though. The plan was three mornings of women’s ministry. Scott would spend that time with Tim doing whatever came up. Their goal was to gain some ground on getting a shipping container that was stuck in customs from Convoy of Hope, which had supplies for the hurricane refugees.

That morning , we had 3 women join us. Yep, only three, but God had that covered too. They were the 3 that were supposed to be there…and the only 3. God’s orchestration. Several others were at the home preparing us a Dominican lunch. Beth introduced each of them to us and shared a little bit of their stories. Javier, the worship leader for Vida Nueva (New Life Assembly) was there too….hanging out in the background. with his beautiful and precious baby girl, Bethany. The three women in attendance were Paola (Javier’s wife), Johanna (who was at absolutely everything), and Bimpy. Bimpy is Gino’s wife. Gino had been trying to get Living Free off the ground before he relapsed and is now in Jamaica going through Teen Challenge there. This left her in Antigua as a single mom of three children. Beth felt with such a small group of ladies that the biggest need was prayer. We had been sitting in chairs that formed a circle. So we did what we always do. We put two chairs in the center of the circle and asked them to sit there so we could pray over them. First, Johanna and Bimpy. Then, Paola and Javier. As we corporately prayed over Johanna and Bimpy, I felt the prompting of the Lord to leave the circle and get my Bible. As I did, The Lord lead me to Isaiah 58:12, which reads, “And your ancient ruins shall be REBUILT, you shall raise up the foundations of many generations, you shall be called the REPAIRER of the breach, and the RESTORER of the streets to dwell in.” God told me this was His Word for Bimpy! I am believing that the Lord will rebuild, repair and restore Bimpy and Gino’s marriage and ministry. There was a word for Johanna too…the Lord our God sees her servant heart. And a servant she is! We learned this as the week went on.

Then, we prayed over Javier and Paola….as we were praying Ana was a given a vision of Javier penning new songs, hymns and that they would become leaders/pastors over the youth. Everyone then joined us for lunch at Chichita’s house (photo on the right), where we were served a delicious Dominican meal of rice, beans, spaghetti and chicken (wings) with lettuce and tomatoes. Jerry’s restaurant is attached to it. Then Javier took us on a prayer walk around the neighborhood….just a block around. Across the street from Chichita’s house is a brothel (photo on the left) and on every corner there is a bar, even some in between. Addiction to drugs and alcohol are rampant. As we were making our way back to the house, we met Mariella. Beatris reached out and invited her to our women’s ministry on Wednesday morning. God’s divine appointment. This was huge and I will share more later. When we returned to Chichita’s home, I asked Ana if we could go back in so she could translate for me. God had given me an impression that I felt the Lord wanted me to share with Chichita. We entered her home and I shared with her that the Lord had said there is an open heaven over her home, that He hears her prayers and the angels are ascending and descending over her home delivering her prayers, and that she was a beacon of His Light to the community. Then she shared that her family hardly sleeps because of the noise from the bars all night long. She has had the women of the night come to her for prayer. She broke down and told us that she thought the Lord had forgotten her and was not hearing her prayers; so this came as a tremendous blessing to her. Mind you, it is only lunch time on Tuesday! Glory to God in the highest!! This quickly became a connection between Chichita and I.

While we were at women’s ministry, Scott went with Tim to see if they what they could find out about the container from Convoy of Hope for the Barbudans. With a recent newspaper articles of supplies ending up in homes of Antiguans, there was concern that the container had been compromised (this was not the case, however). They went to the Community Center where Bible School meets on Monday nights, in hopes to find Ms. Abbott. Upon their arrival, there she stood, right in the doorway. Tim was blown away. He has searched high and low and been given the run around for so long, he could not believe she was standing right there. God’s favor. They got to chat with her a little and she even told them 2 locations of where the Barbudans were still being housed. Tim knew of one, but not the other. So, they went to the one is hopes of finding out what type of supplies they were in need of because someone had given to the Pikes a large sum for this specific need. They did discover there were 86 people with one washing machine. A washing machine costs the exact amount that was given to the Pikes.

At lunch on Tuesday, Scott and Tim met us at Chichita’s for lunch and to walk with us around the neighborhood. Jerry was there, too. Remember Jerry? He was at Vida Nueva Sunday night when the entire church prayed over him. His bandage on his leg didn’t look so good. Therefore, Cheryl (RN) and Deb (OR tech) took a look and cleaned his wound, as well as they were able to they re-dressed it. Cheryl showed concern that Jerry might also be diabetic. This became an open door for our team to help him later in the week. We then returned to the villa to rest, regroup and prep dinner for that evening. Pastor Carlos, along with his wife, Belkis, their 3 children and his mom, Chichita all came…we made them cheeseburgers and homemade steak fries. We chatted and got to know one another much better. We also got to pray over the family, since Pastor Carlos is the acting pastor at Vida Nueva. It was a great night of fellowship. And he shared what he saw in some of our team….callings that were starting to show up. As you can see, it was a wonderful day blessed by the Presence of God Himself. So, it was difficult to pick out one God moment.

Marriage defined biblically is a sacred bond between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24 and Ephesians 5:31). A bond is something used to hold something together. The Bible talks of holding things together as yoked. Yoked can also mean hitched, attached, hold fast to or joined…together. Matthew chapter 19 is a good read for this. Many use a part of this in their own wedding vows. Verse 6 is Jesus speaking an he says, “So they (a man and his wife, from verse 5) are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” This is repeated in Mark 10:9….check it out for yourself.

Again, as one. What does that look like? And does the Bible really hold the answers to this question? I believe it does. I am going to focus on what the Lord led me to in Genesis. Specifically, following chapter 2, which I referenced in my last blog post, my focus will be on chapter 3. Genesis 3 is typically referred to as “The Fall of Man.” This can be a tough chapter. So often, the finger pointing already starts here…and it is pointed right at Eve. Let’s take a close look at this together, as I share what I see according to that which was revealed to me. First and unfortunately, Adam and Eve doubted God when the crafty serpent tempted them. Since, Eve was created to be Adam’s help meet, I believe they were there together. There is no reason to believe that they were separated. Secondly, they disobeyed and ate of the tree they were told not to eat from by God. The serpent misquoted God, who had told them not to eat of the tree of knowledge. Instead with a slight twist of the truth, the serpent questions what God said, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” We know that is not what God said to them. This is a warning to be alert, know the Word and His Truth; have it hidden in your heart while testing and proving what you have heard. After they ate, their eyes were opened. Therefore, they were afraid and attempted to hide because their disobedience. Spoiler alert….God knows all and He sees all; we cannot hide anything from God. We cannot go anywhere that He is not present.

From here, the blame game starts. Adam has the guts to accuse who? Indirectly, he accuses God because it was God that had given him Eve. That’s pretty bold, especially since Adam had chosen to listen to Eve rather than God and eat the fruit. Eve was deceived when Adam did not lead. Sin enters the world….blame, fear, knowledge of good and evil. Disobedience has horrendous consequences. God’s plan was for us to live forever. The Bible is a book of history…His Story. A love story of redemption from the very beginning. Redemption comes through Jesus Christ. God knew what man would do, so in His incomprehensible love for us, He made a way.

As for marriage, the consequences still exist today. In Genesis 3, God first punishes the serpent by cursing it to crawl on it’s belly eating dust. Then, God reveals Jesus as the overcomer of the serpent. From there, God declares His punishment on all women and men because of their disobedience. To Eve, He says that her pain in childbirth will be increased and she will have the desire to usurp her husband’s leadership. To Adam, “because you listened to the voice of your wife,” the ground in which he is to work will be cursed making his labor difficult. Prior to the Fall, it was a blessing to work the ground (Genesis 2:15). Here is the point that the Lord brought me to…I will struggle with the desire to usurp my husband’s leadership. WOW….and ouch! God created man first, then woman was created from man to be his help meet, not the reverse.

So, what does marriage look like to me? I want my marriage to be God honoring. As a believer and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I want my marriage to be an example that brings honor to God. Therefore, I live by the Word and The Spirit. See 1 Timothy 2, Ecclesiastes 4, Song of Solomon, Ephesians 5, and 1 Corinthians 7, just to name a few. For us, Scott and I, this means we are one. We make major life changing decisions together after seeking the Lord in prayer. We honor, love and respect one another. We realize that we are an example to our children what a godly marriage looks like. We seek forgiveness. We accept one another as we are; not trying to change the other, knowing that this is the work of God in each of our lives. This requires grace, self-control, patience, and trust. When we do not agree about something, I need to trust Scott and his judgement to lead me and our family well. I am not the head of our household, period. This can be quite challenging to some of us women. When we first got married (pre-Christ), it was my way or the highway. I had the mindset that I was right, all the time. Ugh, so much pride! I had an older woman ask me if I would rather be right all the time or happier all the time. I choose happy. It took some time to change my mindset. This does not mean I do not or cannot question Scott on things. Remember, we are one….that means my voice counts for something. I’m blessed that he wants my input and values it. Just as a man should not rule with an iron fist so to speak, a woman should not step up and into his leadership position. For me, personally, I know I am not to lead since I am of Eve with a tendency to be more easily deceived. May I continually lift up my husband in prayer to be the man of God that he was created to be and then trust God, period.

Acts 1:8 says “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” I see my dear husband as my Jerusalem. If I am not bearing witness to him, as transformed by God’s work in me, then I do not think I should be going any further. God is preeminent in my life.  Then my husband becomes my priority. Then I can move beyond my Jerusalem.

Disclaimer: Abuse is not godly! I am not claiming that anyone should submit to abuse.