Yes and Amen
Yes and Amen
The faithfulness of God is without question: this statement is much more than a simple opinion, it is to myself, and so many others around the world, a fact that has been affirmed time and time again. Just over twelve years ago, at the time of the writing of this post, I was rushed to the hospital with a serious back injury resulting in a lengthy hospital stay, totaling twelve months, the first five of those concurrently, between the years 2013 and 2015. Due to the injury, I had to undergo several minor procedures, six back surgeries, and years of physical and occupational therapy, as well as manual therapy, speech therapy, and just about any other kind of therapy you can think of.
It was a balmy and wet Friday in October when while taking a shower, my legs would give way after a
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| (My Lower Back After Injury) |
sharp and excruciating pain in my lower back. The pain I felt on that morning was like nothing I had ever felt before up to that point. Now, just to provide to you a point of reference, prior to this event, I had battled several very serious bouts of strep throat, resulting in a hospital stay more than once. Furthermore, I had been hit in the head with beer bottles, bats, and boards: I had been jumped and beaten up more than once, and even stabbed; however, nothing compared to the pain I felt that day.
During this very hectic time period, I was in constant pain, and found that the simple things in life like: walking, talking, standing, or even bathing on my own, activities I had taken for granted on so many occasions, were now taking much effort and exertion to even attempt, let alone complete. While all of this was going on, there was a message from someone I did not know, a name that at the time I could not even pronounce even if I had tried, a young man who heard a voice from heaven, declaring that Jesus was Lord, a man now, who was a teenager at the time, looking for a teacher, to show him the ways of God, and at that point in time, all I had was time, and so after much prayer and contemplation, I felt called to teach this young man the ways of God, and so we began.
The lessons began slowly at first, at the time, my audible skills, as in my ability to speak in a way that those outside of my nurses and family could understand was extremely questionable at best, and completely impossible to understand at worst; therefore, we needed a plan. And so, after trying to come up with a plan, I realized that I had everything I needed in my iPad, sermons, lessons on prayer, instructions for "Teen Destiny," the name of the youth group at that time, and even Sunday School lessons, all at my fingertips. It was this opportunity that allowed me to continue doing the work of the ministry, becoming the hands of God as I typed and shared messages of hope to this young man half a world away.
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| (Pastor Sajid Samuel/PromiseLand Pakistan) |
It all began with a simple request, "teach me about Jesus." At first, sharing simple lessons on who God is, how He created the heavens and the earth, and how that if we submit to Him, we shall be His children, and He shall be our God. As time went on, and I became healthier and able to speak, we began to dive deeper into the Word, how that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," and that "for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Diving deeper, we tackled many of the hard questions that someone raised in a culture that is in many ways, hostile to Christianity, would have, and as we dove deeper into the Word, the more people who wanted to attend, to learn, and to grow into the Christian faith.
It seems so long ago now, that we had at first one, and then five, and then fifteen, and then twenty. The Bible study began to look less like a Bible study, and more like a full grown church, and so it began, a church was birthed out of the sandy soil of Pakistan by the Grace of God. They say hindsight is 20/20, and in this situation, this is very true. Looking back on that period of my life, all I could think about was the pain and frustration I was feeling at loosing out on a few dates I had on the calendar to preach and teach out various events, the fact that while I was in the hospital, my children's grades began to slip, and just so much negativity surrounded me; however, it was during this period, that I met a young man in whom I am most proud. You see, if I had not been injured and forced to "sit on the sidelines," I never would have replied to this message request from a stranger with a strange name, from an even stranger land.
Because of my injury and illness, I was forced to slow down from the preaching, teaching, and volunteering, along with working my regular job, that had consumed so much of my time, instead I had nothing but pain and time. And so, because I became deathly ill in October of 2013, 350 individuals were Baptized into the Kingdom of God, reminding me that God's promises are indeed Yes and Amen. Going back several years, into the late 90's or perhaps the year 2000 or 01, a friend invited me to a church service in which there was a guest speaker. About Halfway through the sermon, the minister calls me out, and declares that I, myself, would one day become a minister, and that I would do great things for God. Now, in order for you to understand why what this minister spoke that morning was so controversial, I must supply you with a little context: up until that moment, and for sometime afterwards, I was am active gang member who had no interest in the things of God; therefore, hearing this gentleman declare these things before God, the congregation of the church, and myself was a foreign concept.
However, years later, everything this preacher declared to me, has happened, and what had first seemed
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| (Myself at the PromiseLand) |
strange, became my life, and all these years later, I am still living for God; understanding now, that the promises of God, will always come to pass, they are Yes, and Amen, and they are a Word that you can Trust...
II Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us...
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