praising our Savior!

claire and i experieced this most amazing thing a couple days ago. we have this friend, we'll call her sarah. she was born and raised a muslim here in Ghana. a few months ago, she met a missionary at a vegetable stand, he shared the Good News with her and she gave her life to Jesus! this missionary connected her with our neighbor and good friend, gertrude, to disciple her. so that is how sarah came into the our lives. she stops by regularly just to chat and to recieve encouragement and prayer. she came by a couple days ago with her two beautiful daughters. she is so full of joy and excitement about Jesus! and she is so eager to learn more about Him. she also wants to learn worship songs. she has a video of praise and worship that she watches with her daughters. they've now learned the songs, but she wanted to make sure that she was singing it right. so while we were sitting out on this patio, this former muslim and her two daughters sang "give thanks with a grateful heart. give thanks to the Holy One. give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son." it was incredible. just to sit there and watch her praise Jesus. in the midst of family that wants to disown her, a community that doesn't approve of her new life, a husband that threatens to send her away, she was giving thanks to the One and Only Savior. really incredible.

sarah recently went to visit her home town, tamale. tamale is a very muslim town. when she returned, she told us how sad she was for her family and friends there because she knows they are wasting their time worshipping something other than Jesus. her heart was broken for them and she wanted to tell them, but she knew the time wasn't right. God has already given her a 'missionary heart' for her own people! it's so cool to see that.

so my challenge and request to you is to pray for our friend sarah. she needs our prayers! pray for her to grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus (Eph 1:17-19). pray for her protection and safety. pray that her husband will come to know Jesus. pray that she will be a light to the muslims around her. pray for her strength and faith to endure the hardships of deserting islam. she will be so encouraged just to know that you are praying!