God Is No Stranger

After writing about the DeMerchants, I told my Peeps, Eliana and Chloee, that they could borrow the missionary books I have in my library. I pulled them out the other day and found that in addition to Full Throttle, I have 12 other books written by or about missionaries! Nona Freeman, Mollie Thompson, Bill Drost, and many others share stories of triumph and defeat, trials and victories, sickness and healing, and God's power being poured out all over the world!

You may be wondering, Kathy, do you feel a call to the mission field? I can honestly say, I do not. As of today, I feel that I am in the perfect will of God, working in our local church in Burbank, California, and supporting missionaries with my prayers and finances. I believe Los Angeles is a large mission field of its own! But that doesn't mean I don't love to read about what God has done! The stories inspire me to have great faith, to desire greater revival.

After sorting through the books, I stumbled upon a little book entitled "God is No Stranger."

The year was 1983. I had been out of high school for one year and was working full time in the church office. We received a flyer (which I still have) that said:

Western District Youth Corp
Puerto Rico and Haiti Explosion
July 28th - August 8th
W.D.Y.C. . . . . the Time of Your Life!

Some of my friends had gone on WDYC the previous year and I decided this was something I wanted to do. And the flyer was correct - it was the time of my life! What an adventure for a 19 year old who had never been out of California, much less been on an airplane! There is so much I could say about that trip - memories that will last a lifetime, times of singing, praying, and laughing with other Pentecostal young people, but most importantly it opened my eyes to a world in great need.

I may write about that trip more at another time, but my most precious memory is of going to a church Haiti. On our way there, our bus hit a power line in the town/village, knocking out all power. When we arrived at the church, there were only candles for lighting, and our group was escorted to the platform. The most amazing thing happened during that service - the service leader had a bell on the pulpit. The people would begin singing and praising God and would continue until the bell was rung. It was the only way to get these precious people to stop praising God! I'm not talking about a 20 second hand wave after singing a song 3 or 4 times. These people worshipped! In Spirit and in truth!

So, back to "God is No Stranger." If I remember correctly, this little book was given to each of us by the missionaries as a thank you for coming. It is a small book of prayers by Haitians who had been converted from Voodooism. The prayers are short and simple, but profound! So look for them on this blog in the future. The pictures I will use with them are my own, from my trip to Haiti. Here's a beautiful sample:

Lord,
We don't get mangoes from an avocado tree
And we don't get corn from the banana plant.
We produce what we are.
Help us to be what You need produced.

No, I'm not called to be a missionary to a foreign land, but I want to be what He needs produced!