You Just Had to Be There!

Part I of a long-overdue post!

Ok, it's December 18 ........ so you must be wondering, "where has Marsha been"? Why no post since October? We've had a very, very busy 3 1/2 months! God blessed us with opportunity and we hit the road - wherever it led! I want to share a few of the things we've done along with lessons we learned!

So ..... lesson #1 - Don't let opportunity pass you by!

So often, we are too busy to act on the opportunities before us. Other times, we allow our inadequacies to trip us up. But, God doesn't put an opportunity before us that He isn't willing to empower us to act on.

I spoke at a women's outreach in May in Lutsk at Fiamiam Church. They invited me back for the December outreach. It really is "outreach". About half of the women who attend are unchurched ladies from the community. The last time I was there, I missed an opportunity and I'll never forget it. A lady came in and sat by herself. Others were busy all around her and I didn't take the nudge from the Spirit to speak to her. When the meeting began, she left. Alone she came. Alone she left!

This time there was a lady who came alone and sat in the very same seat. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Lena and I went over to greet her. When we started talking, a big smile came on that beautiful face! During my "talk" (I call this covert Bible teaching), I mentioned that one of the things that robs a woman of joy is feeling unloved. This woman began to cry. Tears ran down her face and she cried and cried! Praise God for one of the Fiamiam ladies who talked to her and told her about who really loves her!

Opportunity comes and goes - Don't let it pass you by!

Lesson #2 - A passion for what we do blinds us to inconvenience and discomfort.

These two ladies traveled about 2 hours to attend our training meeting in Lutsk. When I was asking the ladies to tell me where they were from and what their ministry was, the lady in the striped sweater told me that most of her ministry was 1 1/2 hours from her home. She travels 3 times a week to teach Bible study to ladies. She rides public transportation 1 1/2 hours to teach a small group of ladies about how much of a difference the Lord can make in their lives. I complimented her on her commitment because of the travel and she said "Marsha, it really is nothing. I have good transportation. It's no problem." Well, she travels by marshrutka, meaning she travels by a mini-van type of taxi over terrible roads and she always travels according to their time table. Listening to her I realized passion for what we do diminishes the hardship we face. How many of us have lost our passion? Is there anything we care about so much that we will deal with inconvenience and discomfort to see it through? I think most people try so hard to "be happy" all the time, that they see discomfort and inconvenience as a reason to say "no". What are you passionate about? Other than your loved ones, what do you endure hardship and inconvenience for?

Lesson #3 - People rise to the level we expect of them. We should expect more!

This photo was taken at the BEE National Leadership Training Conference we held in November. (I could talk hours about God's leading and provision, but that's for another time). We knew money would be tight. A conference like this usually costs about $7,000. Yep, big chunk of change! I engaged 2 ladies from America, my home church and then I challenged my Ukrainian sisters. I was told several times "the Americans always pay for everything". And several times I said, "well this time they aren't". I trust that God had a plan and He did. We told the ladies they would be responsible for their travel and for part of the costs of the actual conference. Keeping in mind some of these ladies live off of about $100 per month, it was a big sacrifice for some of them. But, they came through! The ladies gave an offering of $600 toward a cost of over $5,000! The leadership paid $300 of the training for the main oblast leaders (total cost for the 2-day meeting for the 25 leaders was $600). And to top it off, they took up an offering for a church that had burned.

For years, people have come to Ukraine and felt sorry for these precious people. Rather than helping to equip them using their resources, they were taught that they "need" others to help them. I believe we "hindered" the ministry here by teaching them that they needed foreign funds to do what God had asked of them. They do need help, but I found when we expect more from people, we get more!

One last thought - ok actually another lesson - often we do for others because of what it does for our own self-imagine! OUCH! Yep, we often do good because it makes us feel good. WRONG REASON! Do for others because it's the right thing!

Ok ..... I see the time passing before me. I have to run for now. Will pick back up later today (I think)!