Peace is my continual gift to you

“It flows abundantly from My throne of grace. Just as the Israelites could not store up manna for the future but had to gather it daily, so it is with My Peace. The day-by-day collecting of manna kept My people aware of their dependence on Me. Similarly, I give you sufficient Peace for the present, when you come to me by prayer and petition with thanksgiving. If I gave you permanent Peace, independent of My Presence, you might fall into the trap of self-sufficiency. May that never be!

I have designed you to need Me moment by moment. As your awareness of your neediness increases, so does your realization of My abundant sufficiency. I can meet every one of your needs without draining My resources at all. Approach My throne of grace with bold confidence, receiving My Peace with a thankful heart.”

This is a short devotional someone gave me when I came to Sierra Leone and as I read it last week it spoke volumes to me. It was attached to a passage about steadiness of faith and was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. I love how God gives us the very words we need when we seek him. I may never understand everything that happens in this world, but God does promise His peace. 

Sunday mornings we have a church service in the hospital ward for our patients and since I worked this weekend I got the privilege of worshiping with my coworkers, patients, and our day volunteers.  We had a time of worshiping God through music and then a patient’s caregiver spoke out of Mark 5:21-43. Having the faith to touch the garment of Jesus and be healed.  It took a great deal of faith for many of our patients to go to the Mercy Ships screening day and be seen.  Some people in the community were too ashamed to venture out into crowds, some were afraid they would just be turned away…but whatever the reason, it was not easy for many to ask for help and hope for healing. However, if they do not ask they do not receive. I had never thought about it being a true step of faith for these precious patients to even go to a screening and ask for help. So the message was, we should all live our lives having the faith to touch the garment of Christ. God is at work all the way over here in West Africa and it is so beautiful to witness! He is making himself known in ways that I never would have noticed in the states.

 

These are a few of the special patients I get to take care of every day: