He is Moving (Intern Insights)
This past April, some team members from TWR Canada traveled to West Africa to minister to people in the Ivory Coast. While there, they visited Project Hannah prayer groups and talked to many ladies impacted by the locally broadcasted Women of Hope programs. The group’s online blog documenting their journey is so incredibly powerful. But what stood out to me the most were the pictures they posted; the beautiful photographs depicting the native environment and the precious women and children that inhabit it. The faces portrayed in these images say so much.
In a glance you can feel their pain, the daily burden many of the mothers bear as they try to provide for their families. You can see their smiles, how deep their endless love is for the little ones they call their own. But most of all, you can glimpse in their eyes joy, the joy that only results from knowing or perhaps finding out for the very first time how deeply the Maker of the universe loves them.
The daily living conditions, the physical struggles, and some of the trials these women face would make one assume they exist in a constant state of misery. But the opposite could not be truer! West Africa does not just contain all the problems we hear in the news. It also contains HOPE. So many women there have found strength in the Lord. They have obtained encouragement from the Women of Hope teachings, and they pray and worship God together in community. The following thought comes from the producer of the local Ivory Coast broadcast:
“We met in the church building where they sang, prayed and shared. Once again it was humbling to hear their testimonies and the way this one program has made a difference in their village. And what a reward to sit with them and listen.”
With testimonies like that, there’s no doubt in my mind that the Lord is working through women on that side of the world to further His Kingdom and to extend His love to others. Some shared with the Canada team that listening to Women of Hope has changed how they raise their children and improved their spousal relationships. They are learning to speak love to their families, and those around them are gaining Christ-like role models who live like Jesus loves more and more every day. Let’s pray that families in the Ivory Coast and in all of West Africa would continue to raise their children to have an understanding of God’s laws and that they would live healthy, productive lives that honor the Lord and give Him the glory.
One team member’s final thoughts about the trip: “Relationships are being built. Children are being raised to be God-fearing and to know they are loved. Women are discovering they have value.”
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