{"id":733,"date":"2012-01-17T10:18:53","date_gmt":"2012-01-17T15:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/?p=733"},"modified":"2012-01-17T22:34:49","modified_gmt":"2012-01-18T03:34:49","slug":"i-might-have-just-witnessed-a-miracle-and-seen-an-angel%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/?p=733","title":{"rendered":"I might have just witnessed a miracle and seen an angel\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is 10PM Monday January 16, 2012 and God has shown up in a huge way in our lives here in Africa today.\u00a0 Shelley and I want to give Him all the glory due His great name for He has done great things!<\/p>\n

As you know this week is the week we are supposed to get both sides of Samson\u2019s distant relatives to sign the Adoption consent form.\u00a0 Mr. Kapya and I started our day with a meeting at the local Social Welfare to seek permission for Mr. Kapya to handle the task of communicating with the families and trying to obtain their signatures.\u00a0 Since the families have not yet met Mr. Kapya the Social Worker felt it best if she went with him whenever he went.\u00a0 From the Social Workers office Mr. Kapya called the elder great Grandfather from the mother\u2019s side that lives here in Kitwe.\u00a0 He answered and Kapya set the appointment for he and Betty tonight at 5PM.\u00a0 The great Grandfather requested that I come and bring Samson too.\u00a0 Shelley felt that it might also be good for the situation if David came to.\u00a0 So the five of us drove to the compound to meet with the great Grandfather at 5PM.\u00a0 He was an hour late but when he arrived he was elated to see all of us and to lay eyes on Samson again.\u00a0 I gave him a gift of several pictures in frames we took on the day of court of him and his family members with Samson and Shelley and me.\u00a0 Mr. Kapya then began skillfully explaining our need for the Adoption consent form and after about 20 minutes into this all at once the older gentleman asked if we could go to his nephews house so he too could hear what all was being said.\u00a0 I really wasn\u2019t sure if this was a good thing or not because our last meeting in court drew many questionable distant family members and non-family members out of the woodwork who had strange requests, issues or objections?\u00a0 By faith the five of us plus the older gentleman got back in the car and drove to another compound where God was waiting to make His name known and to show His power.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I can honestly say what transpired over the next few hours was deeply moving.\u00a0 It was a privilege to just be in the midst of the movement of God on behalf of His people.\u00a0 We arrived at a very small home in the Bliangealo compound and I am not sure who all lived there but a very old lady who I believe is Samson\u2019s grandmother who was also at the Foster court hearing was there.\u00a0 She was so joyful to see Samson again and to see how healthy and happy he is.\u00a0 She was beside herself with joy.\u00a0 Then no less than 20 different people young and old came to shake my hand and to see Samson and they too were filled with delight.\u00a0 Inside the house other than one cupboard there was not one piece of furniture.\u00a0 A few of them disappeared and returned with various things for us to use as our seats. \u00a0Things like small chairs, footstool and jugs.\u00a0 Everyone in my party and the men in their party sat on these chairs and the ladies laid a mat on the floor which they sat on and requested Samson to sit with them.\u00a0 Another one of them showed up after walking to one of the small local stands and brought us coke\u2019s and orange fanta\u2019s etc.\u00a0 They served these drinks on a very beautiful silver type tray after carefully wiping each bottle clean.<\/p>\n

After they looked at the pictures in the frames and the small but significant talk ended Mr. Kapya began addressing them.\u00a0 This time he asked me permission to speak to them in their local language, which meant I would not understand all that he was saying but they would be most comfortable.\u00a0 I agreed and offered for them to be able to ask me any and everything they wanted to as they began to understand the seriousness of our visit.\u00a0 I was able to understand about 25% of what Mr. Kapya said but 100% of what was happening.\u00a0 As they listened, asked questions, looked at me off and on I could see that our God was there mighty in power and at work in a special way.\u00a0 Although we were coming from different cultures and backgrounds we all knew God was present.\u00a0 There was a man sitting in the room that I had not seen before.\u00a0 I do not know if I will see him again.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know who he was but to me he seemed like an Angel?\u00a0 He carried a lot of respect because he was an elder and he didn\u2019t say much until the meeting was nearing a point where the family was being asked to consent.\u00a0 Then the Angel spoke eloquently about how God\u2019s miracles occur in all ways and that the fact that we were there and Samson was now a part of a Godly family was a miracle of God and a part of His providence.\u00a0 Although he spoke in the local language Mr. Kapya translated what he said and it was powerful.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter the family gave complete consent to the Adoption and joyfully signed the form!\u00a0 The Angel asked me to close in prayer and the Lord filled me with a prayer of thanksgiving and joy on behalf of us all.<\/p>\n

Tonight was a time of healing for this family.\u00a0 It was a time of closure for them.\u00a0 It was just so proper and appropriate from start to finish.\u00a0 Mr. Kapya was very pleased.\u00a0 He said that after they consented to Fostering they and especially the older lady thought they would never see Samson again.\u00a0 That is why they were overjoyed when we came to see them and bring them the pictures.\u00a0 Just before we fly back to the United States Shelley and I will go back to that same home, this time all 9 of us, for a sweet time of visiting and saying good bye.\u00a0 We trust by God\u2019s gracious hand that it will only be a temporary good bye.\u00a0 If the Lord allows us many trips to Zambia in the future, which is clearly our hearts desire, we will come and see them so that Samson will be able to understand not only his culture but how deeply he is loved by God and how he used those dear people to execute His sovereign will, protection and grace in his life.<\/p>\n

To each of you who have been walking down this road with us, thank you for your prayers and encouragement.\u00a0 Please pray for our second meeting with the other side of the family.\u00a0 May all of this be for the praise of His glorious name and for our joy!<\/p>\n

Our God is Higher,<\/p>\n

Dave<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The day of the fostering hearing<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is 10PM Monday January 16, 2012 and God has shown up in a huge way in our lives here in Africa today.\u00a0 Shelley and I want to give Him all the glory due His great name for He has … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dave-stearns","category-running-the-race"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":742,"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions\/742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stearnsinafrica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}