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Prayer for Zambia

Jeremiah 29:11 " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

There are numerous individuals that God has placed in my life who have continually displayed grace and love in many ways. These individuals have helped support me throughout my life, more specifically during the past four years. I just think of how lonely I would be if I was not able to share my successes with those whom I love. Even in times of struggle, I can always find someone to hash out my issue and receive some mentor-ship. These past four years I am thankful I was not alone and there was always a shoulder to lean on and a hand to hold. I attribute all the blessings to God and it would not have been possible if I did not have the support of the people in this room (West Loop Church). I am forever thankful to my family here at West Loop Church for welcoming me into this community, listening to me when I ramble about my life and my requests to carry out events, answering my honest questions and accepting me despite my loud outbursts.

I want to especially thank Grace Hwang who has mentored both Christy Peace and me. She opened up her home, cooked us breakfast or dinner. In addition, sharing some wisdom, guidance and always praying for the two of us. I am the type of person who loves to dream and has a long list of goals that I want to accomplish. I believe it's good to be a dreamer but unfortunately this makes me worry about the unknown future and I tend to be very anxious. I want to be in control and know what might happen tomorrow, next week, even years from now. But I realized no matter how much I plan, it ultimately is up to God who is working in my life molding me to become the woman he has planned me to be and leading me to places and situations that I could never imagine myself in.

I decided to volunteer with the Peace Corps because the work that I will be doing aligns with my current interests and future endeavors. The purpose of my assignment is to work with rural Zambians so that they are healthy and empowered to promote appropriate and sustainable strategies that mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS and Malaria; and improve maternal, neonatal and child health.

I will be living in Zambia for 27 months, learning a new language, living in a village, learning about culture and practices, teaching community members the basics on how to be healthy. As I work to address the physical needs, I also hope to learn about the spiritual needs of the Zambian people. I want to be able to share the goodness of God and his message of grace. I will primarily be working in the health sector, healing people but I also want to introduce Zambians to the great Physician who came to this earth to heal the sick and give hope to the hopeless. There has been a yearning in my heart to go and serve as Christ has called us too, attending to the needs of the hungry, thirsty, those without clothes and sick. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 24:40) Sometimes its easy to get trapped in this mentality that I can’t do anything because of the overwhelming needs or we can become apathetic and turn the other eye. I am guilty of doing both, but the reason I do this is because I forget who is the reason why I do what I do.

It is God and His grace through Jesus Christ! Although there are so many opportunities to help here at home, God has been leading and opening doors for me to go abroad. Just as everyone in this room is praying for my safety and sending blessings my way, I also wanna pray for the community here at West Loop. I can’t force anyone to do acts of service, but I am praying that God may open up each of our hearts to seek and do justice. Maybe you can’t go across the globe and you don’t need to. I want to encourage you to look in your own neighborhood, extend a helping hand and get to know your neighbors. Continue the conversation with one another, introducing new issues and working together to address current issues. It's gonna be a rough journey but God is going to do some amazing things! As I continue on to Zambia and who knows what else, I want to learn to trust in the lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understandings.

The Lord is good and he has so many promises for us to hold onto. God has been gracious and I am holding onto the same promise he gave to the Israelites, “But I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) I may not know specifically what will happen in the next two years but I do know my life is in the hands of God and he really does have great plans for me. Feel free to subscribe to my blog: https://sarahlomahan.wordpress.com/. I will keep you updated with God’s leading and his wonderful work in Zambia. Thanks again for all your prayers!