Affecting Eternity…

Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.” (Mt 5:16)  I often find myself saying, I am not a humanitarian, I am a crazy Christian that radically wants to see God glorified in all that we do here.  Many of our ‘works’ in Nicaragua meet temporary needs like education, feeding, health, etc…and that is so awesome!  But what is even more awesome and what motivates us, is that these things impact eternity!

This past month we had a couple of eternally important moments.

Doug was down here with Christ Journey Church and their youth missions team.  During a time of prayer towards the end of our trip, Doug has a powerful experience with God.  We were at Mrs. Ruby’s House praying together.  It was an awesome time of the Lord moving in and around all of us.  Doug was so moved, that he gave his life to Jesus and wanted to be baptized.  He put it this way, “I have heard about God for a long time now, and heard about Jesus and all of the good things there.  But today I have decided to start listening, I want to give my life to Jesus, and I want to be baptized”  It was awesome!  And even more awesome was getting in the pool that night and having his baptism!  Amen.

This personal relationship with Jesus that is available to all of humanity is something that impacts eternity.  And what Doug realized this trip is that eternity starts right now.  There is no waiting for the streets of gold, he has got that special relationship with God now through His son Jesus Christ.  And God wants to use Doug’s life to do even more good things here on earth right now and continue calling others towards eternity!

(you may be able to see in the pictures…Doug’s family was able to join us too from Miami…the wonders of the world we live in!  Awesome.)

At Club Esperanza last week I got to see another beautiful moment that also impacted eternity.  One of the mother’s from our preschool class walked by with Teacher Cecilia and headed into the office with Sheyla.  I thought there may have been a problem with her child, but when I got to the office it was the opposite.  Maria wanted to give her life to Jesus and pray to accept Him as her Lord and Savior!  So Awesome.

I took a picture as I walked in because I was so moved by Sheyla and Cecilia taking the time to pray with Maria.  When I saw it later on my phone I was so overjoyed.  There wasn’t a revival meeting, or a Bible study, or a class on salvation…not this week at least.  But, in the movement of all the goings on at Club Esperanza, salvation was happening.  Maria has a tough story and life has been rough for her.  But now, knowing Jesus will fill every void, heal every hurt and give hope for the future.  I loved this moment.

I hope you are encouraged and celebrate these stories with us, moments that have that incredible impact on the rest of time.

Amen!