I come to you at a loss for words. I'm usually full of them, but I am empty.
There was a moment tonight, where God spoke to me.
We just finished day four of Camp Hope, Lusaka, and things have been...
Tonight we set up a borrowed projector and sound system and played the "Jesus Film" translated to Nyanja on a wall at Deliverance church. It was at 19:00, and there was a decent croud.
What happened before, however, is what moved me.
We had about 20 minutes to kill before the movie started, and we hooked up Megan's laptop to the speakers and began to play some up-beat worship music. For whatever reason, joy overcame the crowd and the children began dancing. The short-term missionaries joined in, and many of them were dancing hand-in-hand: missionary with Zambian child. I was overcome with emotion, and felt God calling me to step back. I stepped back to see the all of them dancing, and God told me that this was what heaven would be like. Every nation dancing and singing for the glory of God, with absolute pure joy.
Psalm 149:3
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
It struck me that on most nights, many of these children are taking care of a dying parent, going to bed hungry, or suffering some type of abuse. The world they live in offers them very little hope.
The God they are getting to know, brings them to dancing. The God they are getting to know, comforts them in their distress. The God they are getting to know, is a father to the fatherless. The God they are getting to know, has a love for them that they are only now beginning to comprehend. They God they are getting to know offers them the hope they seek.
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
I got teary eyed then, and I get teary eyed again thinking about it. I wish you could have seen the joy of the children and missionaries. It may have been 20 minutes of a bunch of people dancing, but I believe it was much more. These were people who were sharing the love and joy of Jesus, who died for them so that they may have life. This is what heaven is like.
Psalm 30:11
You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy
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That was a great night! I'll never forget the child in my camp class (Mulenga) who felt the need to translate the movie from Bemba to English for me (it was in Bemba, he said, not Nyanja as I thought it might be). I finally told him he didn't have to do that, as I could gather from the movie what was happening and I knew the story. But it was so cute, him translating the film for me. Thanks for the reminder of that night. Tiffany
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