Awe

My heart is full, just as they say theirs' is empty. How God could be so gracious, I can't fathom. Tonight was my going away service, my last church service in our church, that I've been with from the beginning. I remember coming into this country and saying, "I can't wait until this language is familiar to my ears, and wonderful to my thinking." And not just the language, but the nation, the people, this way of life... It has all become attached to my heart strings somehow.  As the believers in the church spoke about me, and spoke to me my eyes filled with tears and my heart with joy. I'm so in awe that I've gotten the chance to minister to these people, and see their hearts. I'm humbled every time they speak to me. Our worship leader spoke to me with his wife translating and blessed me with the words glory to glory, victory to victory. I keep thinking, there is no way Arizona will impact me the way this country has, no way that I will see this much of God's glory in that podunk town.  And God just said, "Yes there is a way."  Because He is God, and through God all things are possible.  As I leaned forward to see an old woman's face better as she was speaking, I saw that all people are the same no matter the nationality. They all have hurts and scars; those are the things that show me God's glory. The pain and the beauty in a black face and wrinkles. The sadness and joy in a person before and after I pray with them. 

The Malagasy people love speeches and presentations and they presented me with a box of gifts...  When I came home, I opened them all and just sat there in wonder. What they bought me may look small, but I know the price range of it all and it probably cost half a month's salary. Words can not express my heart for these people and the way they have shown me God.