While spending time in quiet prayer one morning about a month ago, I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to journal to the question "Why am I going on Mercy Ships?" I realized I had been talking to a lot of people about this exciting new time in my life, and I was getting so passionate about explaining everything Mercy Ships does, how impressive the ship is, and the types of things I would be doing while working on the ship- all good things mind you, but I never really got to the heart of why I, Emily, was going on this adventure or what the Lord was stirring in my heart. This is was my response to my question the Holy Spirit prompted at such a vital time.
"I love to help people. (Don't worry, that's not my whole answer)
There are so many people that can't help themselves in Africa, they don't have the finances to, let alone the resources.
Jesus helped me when I could not help myself. He came to earth as God in human form to die for people who scorned Him. Yet He went through it anyway. He died, defeated death, rose up and made a way for us to have eternal life.
Mercy Ships is a small way to show a similar grace to these people in Benin. They don't have any other way out of their disease or deformity. They are at the mercy of doctors who have made it possible for them to be cured or treated and there's no way they could ever repay them monetarily in this world.
That is mercy and that is grace. I want to serve with Mercy Ships because Jesus' example is personified in what goes on there. It's only by the Lord's will that any of this proceeds, and volunteers can serve and people can be healed. I am excited to go and be in the midst of this physical healing, but more so for the chance to be part of their emotional and spiritual healing. We may not all have physical deformities, but we are all broken and deformed on the inside without Christ. That is where only the Great Physician can bring ultimate full body healing and freedom."
Since writing this entry, I have approached my chances to talk to people about Mercy Ships differently. My desire is for Christ to be at the center of this journey, and I can only do that if I walk in the center of His will from the very beginning, from today, before I even leave.
My heart is in need of some transformation, some humility. My prayer is to seek justice, love mercy and to walk humbly with my God (Micah 6:8). I am thankful He never gives up on me, that He remains faithful when I am faithless. I have growing to do, but I can rest peacefully knowing my Daddy is glad to enter into this adventure with me. There is likely to be difficult terrain, dry spells in the wilderness and evils that I never fathomed existed, BUT the Lord is mighty and He is my fortress and He tells me to rest in Him, for He will conquer my enemies and defeat those who try to defeat me. What a Father I get to walk with.
