Good morning, Jesus. What blessings do you have in store for us all today? We loaded the van in great expectation to head to the ladies retreat.
We arrived at Peter’s school and he had us wait in the radio station office. He wanted us to meet with the 20 pastors and their wives from the village before the retreat. As we sat there waiting for him to come for us the door opened. In walked Pastor Charles Dagore. Charles is a pastor I worked with five years ago who had a moral failure and refused to repent and turn from his ways. Because of his decisions, I was not able to partner with him in ministry anymore. He greeted me and then asked to speak with me privately. Once we were alone, he began to confess of all he had done and repented, begging my forgiveness. Before me stood a broken man. I told him he was forgiven but told him he must walk in the ways of the Lord if he wanted to have the favor of the Lord upon him and his ministry. He said “Now, I can introduce you to my new wife with no shame.” I prayed for him and he went back home to bring his wife to the conference. Earlier this morning I opened a prayer partner note and found a picture titled “Restoration.” God was working early today.
Pastor Peter invited us to come join the pastors and their wives. We met each one and then prayed them individually addressing their specific needs for their churches and their families. It was a sweet time. On our walk back to the van, we called Kelli’s son, Jackson, to sing Happy Birthday to him from Ghana. The look on her face was precious. It made his day and hers. After prayer we loaded in the van and were off to the community center for the retreat.
We arrived to an open air community center. There was covering, but a wall on one side only. There were 186 women waiting on us, many of whom walked miles and miles to get there. I was so humbled. They began worship and it was POWERFUL. These ladies stormed the gates of heaven crying out to God in prayer, song and dance. The ladies kept pouring in for the retreat. We had 212 total. It was astounding. Some had come from 15 kilometers. I hardly had a voice after doing so many retreats and teachings, but the Lord sustained me and as I taught; the strength of my voice kept increasing. It truly was a miracle. When I started, I could hardly crock out the words, but by the end I was able to speak as loud as if I had a sound system.
I was amazed at the goodness of God. We ended our time with the ladies by praying for each of them. One woman brought her baby with malaria for prayer. She was burning up with fever. Three of us gathered around her and prayed for complete healing. Her fever broke as we prayed and her head was cool to the touch before we stopped praying. The Lord was in that place.
Peter’s wife, Comfort, had made lunch for us. It was Foufou. The team looked at me like deer in headlights. I almost laughed out loud. I told Comfort it was so kind of her to prepare such a feast for us, but we were each exhausted and needed rest more than we needed food. I asked her if she would allow us to gift the meal back to her family so we could go rest at the hotel. It was a real treat for them to have such a feast. The team was thrilled. We climbed in the van and they were already planning our lunch of PBJ sandwiches and apples in the hotel room.
When we returned we found the power off. We ate PBJ sandwiches in the dark of the hotel and then went outside to sit under the mango tree with Janet, our host. She told me she had been thinking about all I shared with her that morning and she sat down to talk with Jesus and asked Him to forgive her sins. She said she wanted Him to be her God too. She wanted the joy I had. I shared the news with the GGs as they joined us and we celebrated under the mango tree.
After resting, we took off to the Bolga Market to see if we could find some baskets for family and friends. The prices were much higher than before so we left with only a few items. We stopped at the Diplomat on our way for dinner and feasted on fried rice and chicken.
We made it back to the hotel just before the bottom fell out of the sky. We packed quickly. Pastor Peter called and said he and Comfort wanted to come by to pray with us one last time. It was a short visit because he had to preach that evening on his radio station. Because of the power outage, we were unable to be on the radio, but that gives us something to look forward to next time.
After they left we invited Janet to join our team for our evening devotion. She was thrilled. She said she’d never sat with women this way. God was moving in her heart. She said, “I used to be an angry person and when people would come to me for things, I would respond in anger. Now that I have Jesus in my life, I will respond like you. When someone comes and asks me for something I will say, ‘Oh, I will go. It will be my pleasure.’”
We closed in prayer and went to our rooms to finish our packing. As we were leaving the front room, Janet mentioned her back always hurt her. I told her we could pray that off of her. We gathered around her and began praying for healing. I was watching her face and it was amazing to see the transformation. She was astonished. “It doesn’t hurt. I haven’t felt this way in forever. That is amazing.” We praised God and sent her to bed for a good night’s rest.
Oh, how sweet Jesus is to His children. We are overwhelmed by His goodness.