Loving God as a volunteer medical missionary by Debbie M. Boykin I do not ever remember a time in which my sister, an identical twin, and I did not know Jesus. I remember those precious paintings on my Sunday school wall of a smiling Jesus gathering and holding children on his lap or carrying the lost lamb on His shoulders as He brought it back to the fold. They left an indelible imprint on my heart.

God laid His hand on my face during a small youth prayer group.

I was an exuberant child of God. My first hymn was "To God Be the Glory", taught by my mother to my sister and me when we were only two. Our Sunday school teacher even had to call my mother to express her joy at our exuberance, but could she please ask us to refrain from singing and dancing on the tables, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam." Don't you wish everybody knew the joy of being a child of God? My baptism was at age 8 but was such a natural progression of where my heart had been all along, in my mind it was just a formality. I had been His for much longer. My eyes well up and throat gets tight just thinking of the ones who do not know Him, really KNOW Him. What a gift to have had this from the very beginning. 1 John 4:13 says; "We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us his spirit."  I knew this first hand when at age 13, God laid His hand on my face during a small youth prayer group. I thought, "Wow, so this is what they mean by the Holy Spirit." This was to be the first of many affirmations from my Lord that I was His and I was following Him.  My young adult years flew by with many gifts from God, not the least of which was a kind and God-fearing husband and two wonderful girls who love and follow God, now ages 20 and 15.

He does answer prayers at lightening speed and could He continue to do so.

Ten years ago, while my mother was in her last stages of cancer and  knowing the empty spot in my heart this absence would cause, I was lifting my petitions up to the Father asking Him to fill this hole that would be left with my mother's passing.  She had been my first teacher, mentor and model of what a Christ follower was all about.  In the middle of this prayer an announcement was made in church of a need for a nurse to go to Honduras with a medical team led by Harold Hurst, a retired missionary who he and his wife, Alice had devoted their lives.  This truly was the quickest answered prayer I had ever received and still to this day remind God on occasion how He does answer prayers at lightening speed and could He continue to do so.  His answer is always "no" or "wait a while." So thus began my journey with God on using my talents in medical missions.

Harold began mentoring me and obviously saw something in me long before I recognized it in myself when he said I would be leading medical teams for God one day.  I thought, "What an incredible thing to say.  I wonder where he is getting this information? Surely not I. I cannot do that, I am not able." Then God ever so graciously said, "YOU are not, but I am." The Lord reminded me that day and ever since; "I have chosen you do not fear. I will strengthen you and uphold you in my righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

From that day forward I cannot begin to tell you of all the things He has shown me and that I have been privileged to do for Him.  It has been and still is like being on an adventure with God. I have been to Honduras now nine times and have seen His hand in working with indigenous Indian groups and using us as His instruments. I have watched children climbing mountains singing, "Jesus loves me this I know" when once they did not know who Jesus was. I have seen people come to know Christ when worshiping under a lean-to and our pews were a wood pile stacked for cooking use. I have seen His miracles in Kenya when He provided medicines and multiplied them like the fishes and the loaves. I've seen the Holy Spirit surround an angry and dark place and peace prevail in a blink of an eye in Indonesia. I rejoice seeing ones previously warped by evil come to life when the evil one has departed their tortured bodies and minds. I LOVE seeing our Muslim brothers and sisters look at us through different eyes after watching us ever so closely for days. I have felt the Holy Spirit envelop a room in which scripture was being poured on a Druze believer in Jordan and his eyes opened to the Truth. We now have 9 families of believers in this town in which zero believers existed last year at this time. A miracle when you think that these families will be counted as "lost" to their families and community and will be persecuted for their belief in Jesus Christ.

We all have our Samaria.  Where is yours?  What is He graciously telling you? I have been on an adventure with God since my memories began.  What a privilege and what a gift.  The glory of the Lord rises upon us all.  It is time for our hearts to throb and swell with joy! I am still a sunbeam for Him after all these years. To God be the glory, great things He hath done.

I ve seen the Holy Spirit surround an angry and dark place and peace prevail in a blink of an eye in Indonesia.