Family church

On the first Sunday evening of every month, all the children, house moms, and missionary families gather for a time of GSF family worship. There are daily devotions in the individual houses, and weekly devotions as a group. But this monthly time is a special opportunity to welcome and pray over any new children, sing praises together, share testimonies, and listen to some teaching from God's Word. Tonight this time was very special to me. 

Daniel Iya led our time of worship. Elijah played the drums along with a few other boys. And we all enjoyed singing! When the songs were over children took turns sharing testimony of things for which they are thankful. This is how it goes: a child stands up, usually in front, and says, "Praise God," and we all respond, "Amen!" Then the child says something for which they are thankful. After many children spoke, Zeke went up front. He said, "Praise God." We all replied, "Amen." He froze staring at all the children for a minute or so and then said, "I thank God for GSF." 

As I looked around, my heart was happy that our family could have just a small part in caring for these many children. Above are a few of the precious boys who have a special place in my heart. On the left is Danny; he was the first child I held here at GSF when we came to visit. He still gives me hugs, and is a good friend to the many boys here. He is a very sweet boy. On the right is another Daniel holding Kenny, one of our children with severe special needs. Daniel is such a kind boy always helping the children like Kenny, who cannot get around on their own. Instead of just parking Kenny's wheelchair, Daniel unbuckled him and held him for the hour long worship time. I am so thankful for the way I see the love of Jesus through these boys. 

After our time of singing and testimony, we prayed together for our 3 newest family members. I wrote about these three in a previous post. Today the mother of two of these boys passed away. They came to GSF a few weeks ago because she was so sick that she could not care for them anymore, and her illness was terminal. Please continue to pray for them all. After praying for them we sang to them. Here are the words:

   "Welcome to the family. We're glad that you have come to share your life with us, as we grow in love. And may we always be to you, what God would have us be, a family always there, to be strong and to lean on." 

I was nearly in tears as I thought of the beauty of how God is blessing these children with a family singing to them and praying for them just as they lost their mother. I am so thankful for our GSF family! I am grateful to be able to live out the words we sang. I pray that God would give us the strength and grace to love these children well and point them to Jesus.

David ended the evening by talking about the gospel with these children, praying that each one of them would know the grace of God through Jesus. It is a blessing to be a part of this very large GSF family!