Feb 26, 2020 Maria’s Mission: Cultivating Christ-like Connections

As Maria was heading for Huaquillas, Ecuador, she wondered what her mission would be. She’d been assigned to be a Friendship Hour leader for the children’s program and she was excited about it. But deep down, she prayed that she would understand more about what God had planned for her.

She begin to ssearch for small ways that God was going to use her. One day, she was out shopping when she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to pray for a man she met and talked to in the store. So she stopped and did so. The more she listened, the more she felt God impressing her to pray with people. Maria had never felt impressed to pray with people publicly before. She was quite surprised at what was occurring!

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That night at the meeting she saw a girl arguing with her little brothers. She figured it was a big-sisterly scolding. Maria asked the young girl if she could assit them. Soon she heard their heart-wrenching story. The little brothers were plagued with traumatic memories of their father committing suicide and their grandfather passing away.

She comforted the younger boy and told him to go ahead and cry. Then she shared that the story for the night was Lazarus and that it had a special message just for him.

She pulled up a chair next to her by the felt board and invited the the boy to sit with her. The older brother came and they just hugged each other for a while. But soon, they became engaged in the program and began to participate. What a joy it was to see their burdens lift, even if for a bit.

After the program, the young boy asked for Maria’s phone number so he could talk to her whenever he needed support.

Towards the end of the trip, Maria and her teammate, Valentina, met two motorcycle cops. Valentina was so excited to meet community members and asked if they could take pictures together. Maria, Valentina and their new friends took photos together so they could keep the members. As they finished, Maria asked she and Valentina could pray for God’s protection over the officers. They said yes, and the four prayed together. The men were very excited that they could do that.

As the trip wrapped up, Maria was very clear about why she was sent to Ecuador and what her mission was. God needed her to connect with His children, to offer support, encouragement and prayer.

God has a job for each of us to share His love with the world. Do you know what He is calling you to do?