I am special!

Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching on Jeremiah 1:5-12 and Psalm 139:1-18 to some women in Ng'ombe compound.  These verses have always meant a lot to me so I was excited to share them with these women who oftentimes because of their culture and circumstances are devalued in society.  Women here in Zambia have a hard life in my opinion.  They are often beat by their husbands and treated like children.  They work hard in the home and in the field.  Then after a hard day of work they receive little appreciation.  Even in the church women often times feel like they don't have the ability to do a certain task because they may not be able to read or write.  They fear stepping out of what they know as comfortable which I guess we all do from time to time.  I shared with these women that God appointed Jeremiah for his time to be a prophet.  Jeremiah did not feel like he had the ability to be a prophet. He was afraid but God encouraged Jeremiah by saying, "do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you."  I told them "the Bible says that God knew YOU before you were formed in the womb, and  has set you apart for a purpose.  You may not feel like you have the ability to fulfill any purpose.  You may feel unimportant or even afraid like Jeremiah did.  God just wants us to be available to Him so that He can work in our lives and transform us or change us into who He wants us to be."  After I taught I asked the women what they had learned from this lesson.  One lady shared that because of the things I had taught that day she realized that she was special to God and that no matter what she felt like in her life she knew that God loved her and had a purpose for her.  Another lady said that she had learned from verse 14 in Psalm 139 that she needed to praise God because she was fearfully and wonderfully made. Another lady said that now she knew why she was here on this earth after coming out of a terrible sickness where she almost died-God had a purpose for her life!  Then when I asked how it made them feel to know that God knew them before they were even born they all said it made them feel special!  I don't think I can communicate to you how important this lesson was for these women.  For them to come away feeling like they are special and loved and have a purpose in life is BIG!  Please pray for these women as they come every other week to learn what God's Word has to say to them that they would have wisdom and understanding as they learn.  Pray for any who don't know Jesus to come to know Him in a very real way.
As I was teaching the women Hannah was teaching the children who had come for the day.  Hannah's good friend Evie who lives several hours away was in town so she spent the day with Hannah and also came along to help with the kids.  They did such a great job teaching these kids.  They got started before I did so I kept looking over at them watching to see what they did.  They both looked very comfortable like they had been teaching up in front of others for a very long time.  Hannah read them the story of Adam and Eve and then they both asked the kids questions.  The kids made a name tag again and they got to color a picture about the story too.  After their lesson they sang lots of songs and played games.  I'm not sure how long Hannah will want to go out with me and do this but for now I'm just so happy at how I see God working in her life and how He is using her all on her own without me.