Dear Hands family!
It is just after six in the morning and I cannot sleep anymore as I am so filled with God’s Word for us for 2010. For the first time in many years I not only received one verse as a watchword but two :} Well let me rephrase that; I believe God gave us a verse on how He saw us in the end of 2009 and then He gave us a verse for 2010. The verse He gave me on Hands ending 2009 is in Isaiah 57:10, “You were tired out by the length of your road, Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless.’ You found renewed strength, Therefore you did not faint.” What a description of 2009! Not just for us as Hands family but surely even more for those we were called to serve. We think of the families we met in Zimbabwe like Prince and Bismarck; the children like Illary and Felsh in Bushbuck Ridge; the woman in Likasi whose house burned down and it killed some of her children; Pastor Chris and the women he works with in Lagos… and we could add many more to this list. It was a tough year for many but somehow we managed to keep one thing alive: HOPE!!
In the light of the above Scripture I believe we received Psalm 130:5 as the Watchword for 2010, “I will wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope”
“Hope and Wait” are hardly words we would like to hear in a year like 2010 but it is exactly the word we need to hear. It is as we wait upon Him...
I believe it has three areas of application for us as Hands family. Firstly as always “We are before we do”. This is a personal cry from each one of us as we wait and hope in God to complete the work He started in us. That we are never too arrogant to think it is done... It is a cry from each one of us, “Lord I wait on you... my soul waits for you and my hope is in you!”
Secondly it is a message of hope to our friends we were called to serve. We bring a message of hope in a dark time of despair. We believe God can and wants to do a new thing in Africa... turning the dark continent into a place of hope! We remind ourselves that Jesus came from Nazareth and the Bible says, “what good can come from Nazareth?”
Thirdly we hold unto the call God gave us in Hands to reach a 100 000 children that would not have been reached if we didn’t go. As we face mountains in so many areas like the need for workers, resources, and as we face political challenges we cling to this word... “we will wait upon our Lord and we have hope in His word!” His promises are always YES and AMEN!!