The Hands and Feet of Jesus

Hello sisters in Christ!

I am so thankful for this blog, a place to share our hearts and celebrate the work of Christ in the world!  Thank you, Michelle, for following the Lord's leadership in starting it!  I just wanted to share one story with you.  I returned just this Saturday from my second trip to Ghana, West Africa.  I had the privilege of traveling with 18 other Godly men and women and ministering in the name of Jesus to the men, women and children in the bush villages.  This year we traveled to the central region, a more heavily Muslim area of the country.
We visited four different villages in the region and while there set-up medical clinics, dedicated fresh water wells, and shared the love of Christ through prayer, preaching, singing, and loving on the people there.  In the first two villages, we were able to "greet" the tribal chiefs.  These "greetings" were very ceremonial and formal.  The chiefs would line-up long rows of chairs and would sit facing our group.  They would welcome us to their village and would then respond to our request to have clinic, start a pole barn church, or simply be present preaching in the name of Jesus.  In these meetings, I truly felt as if we were representing the Church, ambassadors going in Jesus' name to offer these men an invitation to receive Jesus in their village.
Our group was received and embraced, but more than that, the love of Christ was tangible.   One chief said that he was "overwhelmed by the kindness and grace of our group", and stated that we had brought "light" into his village.  The other chief, which was representing a divided community (many factions including Muslim, Christian, and traditional religions) said that the whole village (over 4,000) would now turn to Jesus Christ.  What a privilege to see the response of these chiefs!
But one of the most meaningful and heart-rending times I experienced was at the end of the second day of clinic in the village of Zabrama.  That day Alicia and I were in the prayer station where we lifted up the physical and spiritual needs of each person.  The last few patients were being seen by the doctors and the day was drawing to a close.  Suddenly it started to pour, and I mean POUR rain outside.  All day long we had trouble keeping the crowds of people outside, but when it started to rain, everyone began pouring inside the walls of stone building and into the clinic.  We had to allow the doctors to continue seeing the last few patients, so we set up a "barricade" with plastic lawn chairs.  Several of us "stood guard", so the doctors could finish the clinic peacefully. 
At first the crowd looked like just that - a crowd.  Loud, bustling, trying to push through our temporary barricade.  But then Alicia came to me and said, "I feel so burdened for the needs of these people.  They came here hoping to see a doctor and now we are leaving and some of them may never get to see a doctor the rest of their lives.  Should we pray for them?"  Immediately I agreed that we could not offer them medicine, but we could offer them something better - the blessing of Jesus Christ.  We began reaching out our hands, past the lawn-chair barricade and touching children, elderly women, and pregnant mothers begging God to bless these people who were so desperate to be seen!  It was overwhelming as women began grabbing my hand and placing it on their foreheads, or their child's head.  My eyes filled with tears as I imagined my Savior, Jesus, confined to a human body being confronted with desperate pleas and cries, people reaching out their hands for help as He walked the streets.  How He must have ached for them.
The compassion of Christ is a overwhelming thing - it takes over your whole heart and consumes you until you think you might explode with aching for the needs of another human soul.  But His compassion is the only thing that would compel me to leave my family to share His love in an African bush village half-way around the world. 

Love,
Andrea