Concepts made realities
A recap of my trip to Ghana and some stories of the beautiful things God showed me and did in my heart while I was there
Where do I even start?
This trip was so monumental and incredibly surreal for me. If you need some background information for why exactly that is, read here.
As we were flying over Ghana, tears were streaming down my face. It didn’t feel real. I was about to land in the country that has so heavily dictated my steps and my story thus far. But it was much less the country and more so the name of the country that had placed my steps.
The name prompted me to write it down after being repeated over and over in my head.
The name found me again at a random booth which connected me to OneWay Ministries.
The name led me to spend two consecutive summers interning for that same ministry.
The name guided me to lifelong friends that would impact me for a lifetime.
The name steered me to change my major and graduate as soon as possible.
The name gave me vision and new dreams for my life in working for a ministry.
Needless to say, the name, “Ghana” has been a key player in my day-to-day for the past two years.
You’d think God would have stopped at the name. It had enough impact as is. But we don’t serve a small god. We serve a God that does immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
That same God told me I needed to step further than the name and see the country that represented it.
This is what required a sort of blind, faithful obedience. Other than the sequence of events that the name led to, I never quite understood why God wanted to send me to the country of Ghana.
Many people would ask me, upon hearing my story, if I was going to be a missionary in Ghana– to which I would respond, “I really don’t know.” I had no preconceived thoughts toward Ghana. It really seemed quite random. But I knew that’s where God was leading me and I had made up my mind to follow.
This is the picture I imagined of me and God leading up to the trip.
A father, standing before his daughter, walking straight ahead. The girl, following closely behind, clinging tightly to his hand, not being able to see around him. The girl, trying to be obedient, but all the while questioning what her father has in store.
That picture shifted as I watched the screen in front of me depicting our plane flying over Ghana.
The father was now turning to his daughter, kneeling down, and looking her in the eyes with an excited glitter in his own, whispering, “It’s time.”
Her father, then picking her up and gently tossing her on his back, allowing her to see the view that she had been so desperately awaiting for two years.
And words can’t describe how beautiful it was. As the trip continued, I felt the picture continue to unfold.
The girl, bouncing up and down on her father’s back, excitedly pointing and laughing and bubbling with joy, finally seeing the country that her dad had always intended for her to see.
That’s what this trip felt like. It felt like God was giving me a glimpse into the beauty of His works in my life. From the breathtaking country itself to the beautiful people of Ghana, I was absolutely blown away by the graciousness and kindness of the Lord to write this place on my heart.
As I was seeing the country for the first time, I kept thinking to myself, “I am so undeserving. I am so undeserving.” It’s a thought I have quite often, but typically it’s directed toward the notion of my salvation– something I am in fact, very undeserving of. This thought though was directed toward something else– the calling the Lord has given me. Although different, the same thing can be accredited for the gift: Grace. 2 Timothy 1:8-9 puts it perfectly:
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”
His grace not only saves us after the grave but it abounds further to grant us holy callings in this life we currently live. His grace extends not only to the age to come but to the present age. We not only get to live in eternity with Him forever, but we also get to live this life to the full with purpose and meaning because of the cascading riches of His grace that flow over us.
And as I was standing there, admiring the beautiful country, I held back tears of gratitude for the Lord’s immense grace toward me.
For so long the country that was just a concept– just a name– became a reality.
But that’s not the only concept that became a reality. I got to see the hand of God at work in people’s hearts across the world. I believed this concept of God being at work in everyone, everywhere at once to be true, but I got to see it in a new way.
As the week developed, I made deep connections with the Ghanaians who worked at OneWay's headquarters in Accra. God’s work in them was so evident in their sincere faith and the fruits their lives displayed. They loved so deeply and the Word was so plainly etched on their hearts.
A time I felt the most loved: I completely wiped out the very first day when we were touring the city of Accra. I will say, a huge difference between America and Ghana… there are no “Watch Your Step” signs. My foot caught the edge of the sidewalk and my body launched forward. I slid across the pavement as if I was sliding headfirst into home base. Miraculously, I didn’t have a scratch– my phone, however, had many as it took the brunt of the fall. Thankfully, I had a screen protector on it, but it was completely shattered. I was very comforted when I called my mom to tell her about my fall and her first response was, “Is your phone okay?” Love you too, mom haha. Anyway, my new friends Mario, Christian, and Abraham looked at my phone and immediately put a plan together to get another screen protector for me. They went out of their way to go to a market, buy the correct size, and went as far as to perform the screen protector replacement surgery for me. I was so grateful and felt so incredibly loved.
A time I was deeply inspired by their hearts for the Word: We played a game called, “That Reminds Me Of” which is where one person recalls a piece of Scripture to be followed by another person quoting Scripture that reminds them of what was just said and so on and so forth. We went on with this game for a while as one after the other quickly recalled Scripture that resonated with the previous. I sat back in awe, not being able to get a word in as they bounced back and forth, quoting the words they so evidently had written on their hearts. I was inspired to know God’s Word more.
These are just two stories out of many of the love and kindness and faithfulness their lives displayed!
Another concept that was turned into a reality: Unreached People Groups.
In the States, it’s hard to comprehend that there are people out there who have never heard the name of Jesus, much less have access to a Bible
when His Name and His Word are so accessible to us here. It’s a concept while hard to understand, I knew to be true, but that truth wasn’t made a reality until I was met face-to-face with the very people who have never heard of the name which means “God Saves.”
The stories of the people I mentioned above were of people who live in Accra-- a developed city in the south where Jesus, churches, and the Bible are very prevalent. It is not even 400 hundred miles north where you can find their brothers and sisters who fall into the category of “unreached.” You may be thinking, “They are so close! How can this be?” Well, I had the opportunity of flying north during the second part of my trip to interact with these people groups and see for myself why it is they are unreached.
The villages are very far from each other and travel to each one is an excruciatingly slow process. The roads can’t be called roads at all. The narrow, dirt paths are covered with rocks of all shapes and sizes. A drive that would take us 20 minutes in the States took us 2 hours. We spent 10+ hours alone in the car on our first day in the north. Needless to say, it is hard to reach these people. But every time we made it to a village and got to see those ecstatic waves and surprised, smiling faces, it was well worth it.
At the beginning of our travels, we encountered villages that had been impacted by OneWay’s Ministry of BiblePlus.
What is BiblePlus? Ironically, while most Ghanaians in the north don’t have access to clean water, they do generally have their own phones. So, OneWay strategically distributes microchips as well as units themselves which have pre-recorded passages of Scripture in the various languages used in the north. These BiblePlus units have brought many to salvation as they get to hear the Word of God in their own heart language for the very first time. This leads the new believers to plant churches to share the good news with others.
As we drove further north, we started encountering those unreached villages that I mentioned before. We met up with the very Jesus Film Riders trying to reach them for Christ.
What is a Jesus Film Rider? These guys are celebrities in the Christian faith. They are young men who go out on bikes and risk their lives to reach hundreds of thousands in northern Ghana with the gospel. Over the years, there have been 10 Jesus Film Riders who have collectively reached close to 400,000 people, with almost 50,000 confessing faith. They do this by projecting a film that shows Jesus’ life and sacrifice. I had the honor of meeting each one of them and even got to ride on one of their bikes!
OneWay’s use of Jesus Film Riders to carry the gospel is very strategic because what costs an annual $40,000 to send an American missionary overseas, costs $6,000 to send a Jesus Film Rider. And not only is it cheaper, but they are also able to work around language barriers and cultural differences far easier than a person from the States.
The first night we encountered an unreached village with a Jesus Film Rider will forever stay with me:
Part of the plan, while we were up north, was to go to a Jesus Film Gathering. When the time came, our driver told us it wasn’t safe and that we shouldn’t go. He said there were bandits that could attack as we were on the border of Togo. But the Jesus Film Rider with us, Clement, said this wouldn’t happen and that we would be safe. So we went. After driving in the dark, on a narrow path, among tall grasses for what felt like hours, we made it. But we didn’t slip in unnoticed.
(Going further and further north means, fewer and fewer cars and absolutely zero people with white skin. The fact that the people had never seen a white person before was very evident in the wide eyes and curious stares and occasional brave child that would run up and poke our white skin.)
It was dark out, so the first thing that gave us away as we arrived at this village were the headlights, and then very quickly, it was the car that was casting the bright light, and then soon after, the white people who hopped out. Many of the villagers were dancing and drumming and singing and continued to do so when we got there, but a lot started pooling our way. As the stares heightened and the music got louder, I decided very awkwardly that I would dance too. A group of boys saw me and we formed a jumping circle as we danced together. Once that died down and I had my fill, I looked up to see that the small number that gathered around us before had quadrupled. I was very embarrassed and ashamed because I felt I had seriously distracted the people from the purpose of the gathering: Jesus. We found that we were more of a hindrance than a help as white people in the north. It ended up being okay though in this instance because the film was having technical difficulties and Clement was able to get all of their attention when he was ready to begin.
He never was able to get the film working so he just preached to them and I saw many hands raised signaling confessions of faith!
As I sat on the Ghanaian soil and looked up at the unpolluted sky with such crystal clear stars– a moment I have been envisioning for a while– I thought of Psalm 8:3-4.
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”
Not only had the concept of unreached people become a reality, but also the concept of God’s vast love for ALL of His people.
“The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all.” Proverbs 22:2
“The Lord is high above ALL nations, and his glory is above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.” Psalm 113:4-8
Not only does the Lord intimately and personally love me in my little corner of Indiana, but He also deeply loves and cares for the people who were standing in front of me who live in an obscure village in northern Ghana.
And Ghana is the place that God put on my heart so that by His grace, those people might encounter His great love.
I had many opportunities to share my story with the Ghanaians and I got to see a light and a hope in their eyes as they shared how encouraged they were that God had not forgotten Ghana and is still actively awakening hearts all the way in America for the sake of their country.
The Jesus Film Gathering closed with Clement, sharing again that the Americans traveled all this way to share God’s love with them. Hundreds of them gathered around us with arms outstretched as we grabbed each individual hand. It was a very altogether overwhelming and incredibly moving moment.
As the trip came to a close, my friend, Hannah Thompson, asked me if I felt pressure for there to be a big next “thing” now that I’ve gone to Ghana and fulfilled the initial calling. While there was and still is a strangeness that the trip, so heavily anticipated, was coming and has come to an end, I said this, “There is such a peace in my heart that Ghana is and will continue to be a part of my story.”
Sitting here, writing to you now, I honestly don’t know what that looks like. I feel like I’m back on the ground, walking closely behind my Father, following His every step as faithfully as I can, not exactly sure what the path ahead looks like, but trusting Him all the same. I know I will be working with OneWay once I graduate, but as to the whereabouts and the how-soons of working and going back to Ghana, I am not sure. But I will tell you, there is a deep stirring in my heart to go back as soon as the Lord wills.
The picture that I see now is this:
The girl is now skipping behind her father, singing all of the new songs she learned,
happily wondering when she will get to sing those songs again with the people she found
such a deep love for and belonging with.
To sum up all of these many, many words:
I feel as though the country that had previously been written on my heart has become the country my heart now beats for.
And as I am reflecting on it all and telling you of all His wondrous works (Psalm 105:2), I am singing praises to God because He is Faithful to do what He has set out to do!
This is a song that I learned while I was there:
See what the Lord has done
See what the Lord has done
What we waited for, has come to pass
See what the Lord has done
A song has never rang more true.
Comments