This year in Poland I saw a few things come full-circle about which I have been praying for the past four years.

Poland is legally open to the gospel (as opposed to countries where it is illegal to share the gospel), which is both a blessing and a curse. Few people have genuine relationships with God. Because almost all Poles are nominally Catholic, and have been since birth, they have been deceived into thinking that Christianity is just claiming the title with no bearing on one’s life. In the past three years I have seen more of the “curse” and less of the “blessing”. This year was different. God showed me over and over what a blessing it is that we are free to share the Gospel.

Here’s an example: Our distributions meet both a physical need (wheelchairs) and a spiritual need (relationship with Jesus). Politicians are always looking for humanitarian causes to support because it is good for their reputation, so often times, political figures will come to our distributions to thank us. Because political figures come, the media comes. The media interviews someone on our team, and we are free to speak boldly about why we do what we do: Just as wheelchairs give people physical freedom, we are serving Jesus Christ, who gives us freedom from sin. And then it is on national television. In the past this has happened at maybe one distribution a year, but this year, it happened in almost every city. The president of one city even ended up offering to pay for all of our food and hotel expenses in that city. What a blessing!!!

(Delinda and Mariola being interviewed for the news in Walbrzych)

The first time I went to Poland I really struggled to know that God had a purpose for me on the trip. I started to believe that the trip would have been exactly the same, with or without me. I prayed a lot, and God eventually showed me that He did purpose me to be there. The next year the same struggle existed at a slightly lesser degree. Last year, traces of that struggle still lingered. This year, I anticipated the struggle, and had a friend praying specifically about that, and that struggle was non-existent. Four years later, I am able to look back and see so clearly God’s purpose in me going to Poland, and know without a doubt that He had called me to this mission for the past four years.

Here’s an example: The first time I went to Poland I didn’t know a WORD of Polish. This year I was able to serve as a translator. I still cannot believe that! That is just crazy! I honestly believe that God gifted me with the ability to learn the language quickly and easily because He has a purpose in it. I was definitely not as diligent as I should have been in studying Polish (this past year I didn’t study at all) but God graciously helped me to remember all that I had learned, and taught me even more over the course of the trip. In my weakness, God showed that He is strong. I just can’t believe that He uses little, insignificant ME who knows next-to-nothing about wheelchair seating, and gives me a unique skill that is vital to the team. It is just crazy. I seriously can’t understand it. When I am weak, then He is strong.

(Susan, Me, Wojtek, and a wheelchair recipient – I served as translator for this particular interaction.)

He began a good work, and He will bring it to completion. And how crazy is it that I am seeing glimpses of that?? He is so good.

More to come…