Pastor Roman in Honduras

We’re excited to give a re-cap of Pastor Roman after meeting him last year and delivering Amazing Grace books to him and his community through World Vision in September 2018! World Vision is helping to support his ministry in ways that can help him disciple the community and kids through VBS curriculum, anti-violence interventions and prevention for parents who abuse their children, basic needs support. Several groups are financially supporting their curriculum needs to help the kids grow and develop in their faith!

Amazing Grace Visits Honduras and Meets Pastor Roman

God has different ways of communicating with us. Some are obvious; some are not. As believers we need to be available to God so He can use us. We also have to trust him, and know he is working behind the scenes for his purposes and plans to be drawn out. We don’t always know why things happen, but sometimes we can look back and see how God has his hand on every detail.

World Vision is hosting the AmazingGrace.Life ministry team on our trip to Honduras. Since we have been here, we’ve been able to see how World Vision is helping tens of thousands of people and transforming entire communities with their program, which also creates sustainability for the villages. Each morning I do a devotional that I customized according to our itinerary. I start with a song to clear our heads, focus on the day, and to invite the Holy Spirit to cover us in his peace. I pray for the people we are going to meet, and that the Lord would go before us, behind us, and beside us. That he would prepare the hearts of those we will meet. And we could bring love, hope, encouragement to the kids. That we could be “Jesus in skin” to those who need it the most.

Our leader, Johnny Lopez, told us we would be going to see a man named Pastor Roman, who had a small church with dirt floors and a tin roof. The church is in a small village, called Amor Viviente, which means “living love.”

As we came in the back door, Pastor Roman was speaking to about 60 children. He stopped and welcomed us. Johnny said to me, “Tell Pastor Roman why you are here.” So I said, “The Lord has put it on my heart to write this book, Amazing Grace, and get it into the hands of as many people as I can because it’s so important that you, your family, these kids, and their families hear about Jesus and that they realize he loves them and cares for them. They need to ask him into their lives to be their personal Lord and Savior.” At that moment, Pastor Roman’s face lit up! Our eyes connected, and I could tell he knew I had Jesus in my heart and know the Lord as my Savior. When Pastor Roman looked through the book, he said, “This is like a life vest for us. The kids don’t have Bibles, but now they have the gospel of Jesus Christ and that booklet will always be their Bible.” Pastor Roman began to act out one of the stories in the book. I could tell he has such a gift and a passion for the kids.

I asked him, “Pastor Roman, what is your biggest need?” He said, “Food.” He started to cry. “I take care of 60 children, and the government only gives us a sack of rice and a sack of beans twice a month. I am their Papa. Most kids don’t have a father. The parents leave for work at 4am and don’t return home until 9pm, so there is no relationship between the children and their parents.” After we visited, I said to Johnny, “Is there a grocery store around here?” I had not seen anything that looked like a grocery store. He said, “If we drive an hour, I know of a big store.”  

We left Pastor Roman and told him we’d be back, but we didn’t tell him we were going to bring food back. We wanted to surprise him. We filled two trucks full of food, and when he saw all the things we bought, he was overcome with joy. We were overwhelmed with tears. It was an “ah-ha” moment for sure. He broke down crying and praying over the food. Thanking God for all he had done, thanking Him for His son, and praising God for being a wonderful God. He also said, “This is a dream for the children, to see that God is good. This is such a blessing.”

Later that night, Johnny told us that Pastor Roman never had a visitor before us. I know that was a divine appointment orchestrated by God. We showed up, we hugged the kids, and we played with them. We handed out beach balls and soccer balls, and brought new toothbrushes and toothpaste since they didn’t have their own. But most of all, we brought hope, love, and encouragement to Pastor Roman. I thanked him several times for being obedient to God’s call. I told him that we need more people like him! I told him, “When you get to heaven someday, all these kids are going to run up to you and say, “Thank you Pastor Roman for loving us and telling us about Jesus.” He cried. Then we cried again.

God brings people into our lives in his perfect timing. We had no idea how important our visit was to Pastor Roman. Nobody had come by to pat him on the back and say, “Thank you for all you are doing for our kids.”

God put us there on that day at that time. We prayed for God’s wisdom and direction. We were available to the Lord, and as a result of that, great things happened. We got to be a part of it. The Holy Spirit was moving not only in his church, but in the lives of our team. We got to experience God working in our lives and also in Pastor Roman’s. We poured out our love and encouragement into Pastor Roman. We “refilled” his heart with joy, love, reassurance, and encouragement. He does that everyday with those kids.  

It was such a blessing to be a blessing.

Where is God working in your life? Who can you encourage today?

3 Ways to Follow God When the Path Isn't Clear

God didn’t give Abram (later to be called Abraham) a detailed map or even show him the exact final destination. He basically said, “Abram, leave your comfort zone and go where I will show you.” However, God also added that he would bless Abram and his descendants if Abram obeyed him. Abram didn’t know where he would end up, but he knew and trusted God’s character, so he obeyed anyway. Abram’s obedience happened one step at a time. With each step, Abram heard a little more from God.

I feel that this is what God requires of me as well. In November, I lost my job. I don’t know exactly where God is taking me next but I am trusting that it will be a good place—a place of blessing. Each day since, I have been doing what I know to do within each day. I’ve been looking, applying, and networking. I’ve also been taking advantage of the time and learning some new skills. All the while remembering that God is a good God who loves to give good gifts to his children. Each day I feel like I’m a little closer to knowing where he is taking me next and this brings me peace even in the not knowing.

Like Abram, I am learning lessons as I walk through my journey. Three lessons that God is teaching me are:

1. Step Out of My Comfort Zone

SEE ALSO: 5 Tips Everyone Should Follow When Reading the Bible

God wants me to continually step out of my comfort zone and trust him with the unknowns. I have to leave room for God to guide me. If God were to come show me step-by-step his exact will for my life, it wouldn’t require faith for me to follow him. Moreover, if I know exactly where I’m going beforehand, the idea probably isn’t from God. It probably came out of my own head and ideals. God likes me to follow him in faith and trust—not in knowing. This frees me from getting stuck in my own ideas, which often can take me away from God’s will, because let’s face it, my own ideas can be very flawed as well as limited. God sees everything—past, present and future. He is not limited.

When I think back to times when I actually did step out of my comfort zone, it can give me confidence to do it again. A few years ago, I got married and moved many, many miles away from the state that I’d lived in my entire life. I knew it was for a good reason but I didn’t know a lot of the details that I would encounter after the move. But I did it anyway.

2. Take One Step at a Time

There’s also another reason God doesn’t want me to know too much too soon. If I know too quickly, I might get overwhelmed and give up because it seems too hard. I might know where I’ll end up but I won’t necessarily know how. And, this not knowing how would cause me to have all kinds of anxious and worried thoughts. Nobody can do their best work under stress. God doesn’t ask me to take a step that is five miles up the road. Each step of this step-by-step approach is made under the daylight of the present moment. Everyone can take one step at a time.

SEE ALSO: 3 'Bad Christians' Share What it Means to Follow Jesus

I once tried a ropes course that was over twenty feet above the ground. My initial thought was that there was no way I could balance myself and walk across those ropes. I wore a safety harness but my jitters didn’t seem to understand that I was completely safe. It was still scary. But…as I took one step at a time, I reached my destination.

3. Action Lessens Worry

I tend to overanalyze everything and overanalyzing causes me to worry and even become paralyzed. Taking action erases a lot of these worries because the act of doing something takes on a life of its own. I concentrate on the task at hand, not the results that will come later. Worry about future results usually happens before I ever take an action to complete something. Taking actions regularly is a way of living in the moment and often deletes some of the fears of the future and regrets of the past.

Also in that ropes course, I realized that most of my worries came before I started each section. Thinking about the possibility of falling happened before my first step. But…when I took the action necessary and started moving, my action really did erase a few fears because I wasn’t thinking about them.

SEE ALSO: How You Can Follow Jesus on the Job

Bonus Lesson:  God is With Me as I Go

Abram was able to trust God in the not knowing because he believed that God was with him. I also have this assurance because Jesus said, “…be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Even to the end of the age means in every moment of my life.

Is God speaking to you about leaving your comfort zone and going without knowing? If he is, spend some time in the Bible and in reflective thought and wait for him to give you your first step, not the whole plan, just the first step.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8).

Jennifer Heeren loves to write and wants to live in such a way that people are encouraged by her writing and her attitude. She loves to write things that bring people hope and encouragement. Her cup is always at least half-full, even when circumstances aren’t ideal. She regularly contributes to Crosswalk.com. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband. Visit her at www.jenniferheeren.com.

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A Visit to Sutherland Springs Baptist Church

On November 7, 2017, the worst thing that could ever happened, happened… In a church. One place you would think you would be safe. My husband and I went to Sutherland Springs to serve dinner earlier this month with Mercy Chefs. We passed out food, prayed over the people, and loved on them throughout the night. Everyone in Sutherland Sprimgs is still in much need of our prayers.

As she broke down, one lady told me, “this is my church and my town." We hugged her, and cried with her as she told us her story. “I had planned on going to church that day, but my grandson came down with fever so I stayed home with him. As soon as I got the call about the shooting, his fever broke. God kept me from going to church that day. There are stories just like mine all around the town.“

I thought to myself, God protected her and her grandson that day and many others in the town. I don’t know why he chose the ones he did to stay at home that day, but we will find that out when we get to heaven. God doesn’t ask us to understand why things happen. He says, “Trust Me.“

Another lady named Freda told me that she was shot five times in the legs! During her two-hour surgery, her family gathered in the waiting room, hugging each other and crying together. They all thought she was going to die. Two weeks later, she walked out of the hospital without even a cane or a wheelchair! Now that is a miracle! There is a reason Freda is alive. She told me that she moved to Sutherland Springs to get away from Hurricane Harvey, so she survived a hurricane and a shooting! Hand that woman a pen and paper and let her write a book!

There are no words to explain what happened or why. All I can do is point people to God and tell them to focus on him. He is the healer, wonderful, Counselor, Almighty, Prince of Peace... this verse comes to mind: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah‬ ‭9:6‬ ‭

What happened that day is unexplainable, and excusable, and one of the most horrific things that have happened in my lifetime. I know that God can bring something good out of something bad. We may never know what it is but that doesn’t matter. Just trust.

- Amy Simmons Crafton, Founder of AmazingGrace.Life 

2 Years of AmazingGrace.Life!

Two years ago today, AmazingGrace.Life was started! It has been so exciting to see God work. It’s amazing to see what happens when you make yourself available to Him, and depend on Him to guide and direct you!

When we started the website www.amazinggrace.life, we thought, “wouldn’t it be so cool if we had 200 people visit the website? Turns out over 85,000 have come to the website looking for answers and wanting to know more about Jesus! How cool is that?! Only God could make that happen!

When you trust God and are available to Him so he can use you, great things happen! I always pray, “God, I want to be in your will, please guide and direct me in the way you want me to go. I’m available to you so you can use me for YOUR purposes and what you want me to do with my life.” When you ask God to be in His will, get ready to experience things only God can do!

From the beginning, our mission has been to educate people about the truth and life of Jesus Christ, and how to become a Christian. It is our hope to reach tens of millions of people all over the world with the Gospel of Jesus. We wrote a booklet called Amazing Grace to share the Gospel of Jesus. It shares the story of Jesus’s life, and why God sent his only son to earth. We have distributed over 110,000 books in four languages all over the world. It’s so inspiring to get emails from kids who are reading our book across the United States, and in other countries as far as Russia, India and Sudan. The book is available on our website at www.amazinggrace.life. Or, if you would like a physical copy of the Amazing Grace book, please email us at info@amazinggrace.life.

So what’s next?

We are hopefully going to get the Amazing Grace book distributed through large organizations like World Vision, Samaritans Purse, Salvation Army and Compassion International. Now, wouldn’t that would be a God thing? We can only imagine how many kids/adults lives we could reach if these organizations took our booklets all around the world! We can’t wait to see what God is going to do in our third year!

Let’s help lead others to Christ! Please join our team in helping educate others about the truth of Jesus Christ! You can do this by sharing our posts with all of your friends so that they might go to the website, and learn about Christ and the hope, grace, mercy, love and forgiveness He has for those who love Him and know Him as their personal Lord and Savior

Thank you for being a part of our journey!