We all need someon we can lean on

I felt I wanted to share this with you, I thought of putting it on the testimonies on the website, but couldnt find anything to select where I could write. Last week Sunday when you prayed for me, I cried, at first because of the emotions and the hurt, but afterwards it was something else, something I could not explain and didnt understand. God, being the loving God He is, later revealed it to me. For the very first time in my 38 years, I laid my head on my fathers shoulder, and sought refuge. Prophet Nola, and yourself, and my Godly parents. I have never had either a mother or a father figure in my life. God allowed me to lay my head on your shoulder, and know the love of a father, for the first time in my life. It is an experience I cannot describe. All I can say is that it was something I needed and will always be grateful for. We dont always realize what emptiness is in us, when we grow up without the love of a mother and father, and its sad that people who dont give their life to Jesus, will always unconsciously seek to fill that void with the wrong things. So I am glad that I am where I am, because here, in my church, my Harvester home, is where He fixes me bit by bit. And He fixed something in the picture I have of a father, in human form and in the form of God. Thank you Jesus for that experience.

Thank you for being a father.

This reminded me of the time in Australia when I was at my wits end as a missionary. I had no one to turn to and no one to ask for help. I was a stranger in a foreign land and I had a wife and two kids to take care of. I ddin't mind going without food or shelter, but I just couldn't bear the thought of not being able to provide for them. The offerings in Australia were so small wherever I preached that it hardly covered my petrol or hotel bill. Sometimes I drove 800 KM to a distant little town and then couldn't make it back on the offering. Sometimes I had no money left for food. It looked like the end of the road for me, a dead end.
I cried in frustration as I prayed to the Lord, telling him that missionary work was too hard and to unrewarding. In fact I took out all my frustrations in prayer. When I finished praying I thought God might desert me and never pay any attention to me ever again. Instead I clearly and distinctly heard a voice in me that said,'It's ok to cry on my shoulder. I have broad shoulders. The government of your life is on my shoulder. From now on many people will cry on your shoulder too.'

I never knew how many times this would repeat itself in my life. The above letter is simply an indication of many, many others that have said the same thing. I still need the Lord's shoulder to cry on sometimes...even after 27 years as a missionary. Nola and I have managed to raise three kids, one of them married with two kids of his own and also in the ministry with us. God is faithful. He is our Heavenly Father. But sometimes we all need someone we can lean on - down here!