April 5th, 2013
We also started SHINE WOMEN on Thursday. Shine is an 8-session personal development course. The purpose of SHINE is for each woman to develop an understanding of her own personal worth, strength and purpose and realize the potential within her. HAF might be starting a SHINE course in Mitchell’s Plain where I might be facilitating with another intern!
Our intern working days are Tuesday-Thursday and all day on Sunday. There are four church services each Sunday. We sit in two of the services and volunteer for the other two services. There are many places to volunteer on a Sunday. The HAF interns are assigned to the Pastoral Care Team, with the other Pastoral Care interns. Working with Pastoral Care will definitely help us when we are out in the mission field.
On the first Sunday, we could choose any department to serve in. I did not choose Pastoral Care. Honestly, I found it quite intimidating. It’s very intense because you are working in a closed environment with poor people, people who are living on the streets, and people who are ill. It can be overwhelming, emotionally and spiritually. At the start, I didn’t feel very confident praying for people in these situations because I thought I wouldn’t have the right words to say. To serve in Pastoral Care has been a stretch. It hasn’t been comfortable. But it is developing my confidence in praying for people and it is making me lean on God. And now I believe that it is equipping me to do what God is calling me to do.
Pastoral care intern and volunteer praying for a breakthrough in this young mans life.
We set up the Pastoral Care area in the HAF offices before the 8:30 church service. This includes moving furniture, carrying down 60 food parcels, and a brief team meeting. Most of the people we pray for, are in situations that are unimaginable in ordinary life, and serving in this area can be draining. Therefore, it’s so important for us to spend daily time with God and to be refreshed and filled up by Him.
Pastoral Care intern Dona giving out love & hugs while his mother waits for prayer.
There were a few stories that just broke my heart this past Sunday. You never know what challenges or obstacles people might be facing, and this is all the more reason to treat everyone with love and respect. Also, when you don’t have much, you really have no choice but to depend on God, which is an opportunity to develop an authentic relationship with Him without having a back-up plan.
However, there were people coming back with praise reports on how God protected and provided for them. Many others are trusting God’s timing for their breakthroughs. We keep pointing them to Jesus and telling them to trust God because He is their solution.
As I have been serving in Pastoral Care, I can feel God gracing me more and more and developing my perseverance to serve in this area. It is getting easier to speak to people, and to connect with them, and pray for them. Today, I led two people in the prayer to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I had never done that before and I was about as nervous and excited as the person I was praying for and so I almost forgot what words to say! But the Lord put the correct words in my mouth and it flowed as I led them into the prayer that will change their lives for eternity.
Romans 10:9 – “If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.”
Love,
Juliette
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