- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
When it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in Fiji. The weather is lovely, mostly—great temperatures, less rain, a few cyclones. Villages are still digging out from Cyclone Winston.
Don’s team at Operation Foundation normally works in the prisons, however they diverted from their usual ministry to help cyclone victims. It was a privilege for him to come along side villages in Tailevu, Rakiraki, and Koro Island and help them process grief.
The activities of the Trauma Workshop included:
- Drawing pictures of the worst moment - Children showed their families floating inside the house, with the roof blown off.
- Writing a lament to God - Teens, grandfathers, and women all expressed what was repressed inside.
- Burning their pain - Burdens of pain and terror were sent up to God in smoke and replaced with peace.
Comments from the villagers:
“Other counselors came but what they said didn’t help us. Your workshop was different. We are glad you came.”
“Normally we stay quiet. Since you came, we talk about what happened and it’s helping us.”
Don’s team has been teaching and counseling in the prison and seeing God move in hearts. One brother, Joni, was caught stealing and held at the local police station for arraignment. Three days later his parents went to file a missing persons report, and the officer said, “We have a boy in the cell by that same name.”
The parents stepped into the cell block, saw their son with handcuffs and wept.
“They hugged me and Mom said she still loved me. Dad couldn’t get any words out. I could’t stop the tears running on my cheeks,” Joni said.
“Step Out Step Free (the classes we offer at Operation Foundation) helped me see the way I was living and understand what life really means. I was the most precious thing God created in this world. It showed me that the key is to let God be the Master and Leader for all things I do.”
Another brother, Wasaki, confessed that he has been selling drugs inside prison. He wants to stop wearing masks. After counseling he asked to meet with the Office in Charge to confess. That meeting is scheduled for later this week. The only explanation for his change of heart is the Holy Spirit is at work in him. Please pray for Wasaki.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/donjgoulding/
Lots of Love,
Dani & Don Goulding
____________________________
Operation Foundation
Donations go to our forwarding agent:
Goulding C/O Jeanne Hartman
PO Box 2433
Grass Valley, CA 95945
For tax exempt donations:
Pioneers
10123 William Carey Dr.
Orlando, FL 32832
Please Memo:
Account no: 132113
Operation Fd –OARF (Goulding/Schultz)
On-line Donations go to:
pioneers.org
Account no: 132113
Don Goulding
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law ofmy mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. (Romans 7:22-23 NET_FL)
Spiritual growth only comes to me with bloody violence. My old Mr. Sin Nature is a wily beast. One of his tricks is showy enthusiasm for biblical head knowledge. He encourages me to memorize scripture, but his slimy goal is preoccupation from living out the truth.
Another Mr. Sin Nature tactic is to read the Bible too quickly. He won’t hold still under the stinging poultice of a few chosen words, and instead, prefers entertainment by the storyline. These and other ploys force me to sit on the urchin.
I begin in a place where I can be alone with Jesus. I ask what heart-work needs the most attention, then read no more than a chapter of Scripture. How I choose where to read matters little as God maneuvers any method to get me where he wants. I find he consistently points me to what I need. Next, I let the Spirit highlight the handful of words on which I’m to focus. Then I wrestle with my squirming old nature, and pin him under those words until he squeals, “I give.” Repentant prayer and brief journaling knock the final wind out of the monster.
I have to repeat this process each morning, because, after years of letting the sin nature run wild, he thinks he can poke his nose into every good thought. Only when I’m methodical and strong-handed is he containable. For now, I have to cohabit with the rascal, but I have another guest who forces him to sit in the corner. I need Jesus in my house at every hour. Not only does he pardon my keeping the sin-brat, he also helps me baby-sit the little wretch.
Prayer: Lion of Judah, this is war. Help me overcome myself.
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
Even some of the wise will stumble, resulting in their refinement, purification, and cleansing until the time of the end, for it is still for the appointed time. (Daniel 11:35 NET_FL)
Tambudzai, with her beautiful white smile, was from the Shona tribe. She worked as a housemother in the orphanage where we served in Zimbabwe. Dani gave Tambudzai yarn and discovered she could knit like no one we have ever known. She did it without written directions. Regardless of interruptions—fighting children, yammering coworkers, singing songs—Tambudzai never lost track. If she changed one stitch in the row, it was the beginning of a pattern that would crisscross other cables to end at the shoulder.
The details of our lives are part of a pattern God weaves into history. Every event loops another interlocking thread where it belongs. Life may appear random with its many disruptions, but God is sovereign, and he never misses a stitch. Human failings and demonic mutinies become contrast rows to raise up his beautiful purposes. The garment he is working has a predetermined shape and length.
Today, when I encounter difficulty, I need to remember I have a part in eternal history. The difficulty will not be an obscure error without meaning. It will be a refining stitch dropped on cue so my response can be included in the grand design. I pray my reaction will be one of trust and obedience. Today’s test is already on its way, and I set my intentions to bring glory to Jesus.
Prayer: Sovereign, I celebrate your artistry in weaving my life into history.