Filling the VOID

“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Isaiah 55:10-11
For me, this passage hits close to home.
The very first time I came to Guatemala with Paradise Bound Ministries was in 2006, on a week-long mission trip with Hager Park Church. Together, we conducted two remote medical clinics and built various homes in the village of San Jose Cajagualten. As dedication day drew near, I became very excited and nervous, for reasons I was soon aware of. The family who I had assisted to build for included a father, mother, and three young children. The family gifts soon brought us into the spiritual gifts, and the spiritual gifts into the presentation of the Gospel. The mother and the kids old enough to understand eagerly accepted Jesus into their heart, but the father refused…three separate times. I was crushed and could not even begin to comprehend why someone would want to reject the greatest gift of love one could ever know. The father was an alcoholic, however, and we were able to convince him and his brother to enter into a rehab facility that very day. The brother stayed in rehab, but the father checked himself out shortly after he was admitted. He passed away a few months later due to alcoholism, and to this day, I still hope and pray that he accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior before his time came. It still hurts, though, to see his children in that village every Wednesday during our discipleship programs, not having answers…
To this day, I flashback to that family every time an individual says “no” to Christ inside one of the homes we built. This past summer, that seemed to happen at least once a week…and almost always in the home I had helped lead. Two individuals that stick out to me specifically are Patti, the mother of the home we built the very first week of the summer, and Gloria, the single mom we built for with the fourth team of the summer. Although upset and discouraged at first, Dan Smith would always remind me of Isaiah 55. God’s word will never return to Him void, and He has indeed shown this to be faithful and true over the past few weeks and months. Even as we continued building homes throughout the summer, Hermano Jesus would hold a service in the village of La Reina during the second building afternoon in order to keep the discipleship program going that we established out there last fall. I remember the extreme joy I felt as I saw Patti walk into the service that second week of the summer, and I remember feeling the huge smile spread across my face as Gloria did the same a few weeks ago. They both have been attending regularly ever since.
God promises us that His word will never return unto Him void, and He will never fail to fulfill one of his promises. We have gone out and planted the seed, and now God will continue to water them until they begin filling that void in their hearts and lives with HIM.