My life has been a struggle, trying to survive in a foreign land far away from those I knew as a child and adult.  This struggle took a different turn, had a different meaning after I accepted my call to attend PTS.  Initially I felt like I was lost in the wilderness, a sojourner in a foreign land.  Nothing made sense to me.  Matthew 7:7 was my anchor, knowing that God would comfort me and speak to me.  Indeed God did; PTS has been my home for the last four years.  This was not exactly what I was hoping for when I prayed to God but God told me to run the race with perseverance.

The first few years of my seminary life, I felt that I was in the wilderness.  Prayers, petitions and lamentations were my expressions to the Lord, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord”.  As I sought for God’s mercy, God taught me a lesson of humility.  I learned to fully surrender to the Lord.  I accepted to be the potter’s clay.  He is the Creator and Sovereign God.  My life and my future are in his hands.  I trust and rely on Him in ALL things.  After surrendering to the Lord, my life became more meaningful to me.  I began to hear God’s voice more clearly through my study.  The challenges I once saw as obstacles became opportunities for me to learn.  I understood that the race I am running is a marathon.  Like any marathon, I needed to be trained and equipped for the task.  The training is hard; I need to have the endurance and perseverance to cross the finishing line.

As Christians, each one of us has to run our race and we will all face difficulties along the way.  With perseverance we can resist the temptation to desist or turn aside before reaching the goal.  We need to trust God in every circumstance and know that God is sovereign.  We need to focus on our final destination which is the heavenly home God prepared for us and to live our life here as He taught us.  We must always remember that salvation through Christ is our only guarantee to reach our ultimate goal.  Our Heavenly Father is waiting for each one of us at the finish line; we will rest in God’s arms, will hear God whispering in our ears “a job well done. You’re my faithful servant.”  Let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as we run our race.  I have been blessed to have the time to strengthen my relationship with the Lord while at PTS; I pray that you, my colleagues, brothers and sisters in Christ, will experience this same joy.  May you wait upon the Lord patiently so you will mount up your wings like an eagle in God’s time.

To God be the glory.

Written by Minh Towner, Senior M.Div student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Her name is Ester.

Upon inquiry about what she does, without hesitation she looked us straight in the eyes and said she’s a servant of God.  She uses art and puppets to reach and teach either stories she has written or stories from the Bible to children of the highlands.  It all started with an English class she was leading that became a Bible study, and now those members are the ones who help in her ministry.

Her name is Oahn.

It was 2004.  She knew God was Almighty and that Jesus was Christ and Lord, and that he came for her sins and in him she had salvation, but she didn’t feel it here, in her heart.  So one night she prayed that if God was the One God that He would then fill her heart, or she would go and follow another religion.  At that moment, she felt her heart being filled with what she called a sweet warmth.

Her name is Nim.

She works with her family weaving fabric by hand.  She and her aunt are the only Christians in their village.  When we stopped with them and read scripture with them, she would cradle her Bible close to her heart like a precious child.

Her name is Qua.

Her son lost fingers on one of his hands, which makes it hard for him to work.  And being an ethnic minority makes it hard in and of itself to get work anyway.  She has been praying for some sort of cure.  A miracle.  She had been told this happened to him because her husband doesn’t believe in Christ, and the weight of that guilt rested on her heart.  But as we prayed with her, one of our leaders put a hand on her shoulder and declared “You are the daughter of the King.  There is nothing that can come between you and the Father.  There is NOTHING that can come between you and the Father.”  Later, she said she felt free.

Her name is Hicn.

She was more reserved and quiet than most of the others, but there was a fire in her eyes that came out when she and other women would dance in worship and try to teach me the steps.  Her petite frame radiated strength, for her feet had complete trust in whom had built the foundations of the firmament upon which she tread.

Her name…I don’t remember.

When in 2000 she decided to follow Christ, her family and friends came and beat her, tied her up to the back of a truck, drug her around, and beat her some more.  She was badly hurt, but she said it didn’t matter to her if she lived or died, for she had Christ.

Their names were never offered, so again I don’t know them.

It was at a women’s conference, and translators were few.  But it didn’t matter. They clamoured over the language barrier between us and sang to me, touching my arms and nose and face, in so trying to tell me I was beautiful.  So I would touch them back, so they would know they too were beautiful, that they too had worth and value.  That they were loved.  And we sat there, together, speaking a language that requires no words.

Her name is daughter, sister, mother.

They are my sisters, our sisters, our daughters, our mothers, our nieces, our aunts.

We are family

By Rebecca Dix, storyteller and M.Div student.

Learn more about WMI and the work they do by liking their page on Facebook or going to their website: http://worldmissioninitiative.org/

In this season of Easter, I have been reflecting upon the way God is breathing resurrection power into the lives of those who live in Senegal. It was awe-inspiring to live amongst our Senegalese brothers and sisters for two weeks; here are some of their stories.

Here is the Baobob tree and Francois, our translator, sharing the "monkey fruit" with us.

Story telling in the villages. We acted out the stories of Lazarus and Bartimaeus.

The second story is about a local village pastor. The work God is doing through him is a tangible manifestation of resurrection power. Pastor Malek lives in the bush, where most people live day-to-day. The land is extremely dry and with the exception of three months out of the year, it is difficult to cultivate plants. But Pastor Malek knows the Lord Jesus and has hope in difficult situations. He has started a farm to feed not only his wife and eight children, but to provide income for his village and for his church. Although he has to walk two miles to get to the garden and then carry buckets up the hill over and over again to water the plants, he is giving new hope to his people by showing that the land can produce. The Lord is enabling this pastor to live in the power of the resurrection in a tangible way, literally turning uninhabitable land into a paradise.

The team

Yet another place where we encountered God’s resurrection power in the life of His people was through the testimony of Suza. She is not from Senegal, but from the Congo. And she paid a large sum of money to a man who told her he would get her to France by boat if she could get herself to Senegal. We heard many, many stories of people like her, trying to escape impoverished situations in their home countries. Families putting all they had on the line for the sake of one family member making it to another country where there might be hope for work. But it is a rouse. When she arrived in Senegal, she knew no one. She did not speak the language. She had no family. She had no home. Nothing. If anyone has a right to be bitter and angry, to turn away from God, it’s Suza. But the church took her in. They pay her a very small salary for odd jobs  And they allow her to take classes at the Theological Seminary where we were teaching. Suza is a woman of deep joy and passion. She said to me, “KJ, if that man had never deceived me, I would have never learned about the Lord. How can I be angry with him? The Lord will provide for me. I will find a way forward.” Suza has not experienced resurrection, newness of life, in a way that I am use to seeing it. She is still a poor woman, living day-to-day in a foreign land.  And yet, she knows the power of resurrection.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to have met our brothers and sisters in Senegal and hope that their stories inspire you on this day as we remember Christ’s resurrection in this Easter Season.

By KJ Norris-Wilke, M.Div. student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Learn more about WMI and the work they do by liking their page on Facebook or going to their website: http://worldmissioninitiative.org/