Re-Born Identity

Friday we will be heading to Keystone, WV again. We do mission work in the Appalachian Mountain areas with others from our church. We began in the Beckley area, and in the last 5 years we've branched out.

We first went to Keystone 1 1/2 years ago in the summer to clean up the park area, to spend one-on-one time with residents while we pampered them, and to hand out food and supplies to needy families there.

MOST of Keystone is living in poverty. It is a small coal mining town near the southern tip of West Virginia. The mine used to employ about 1000, until it was exhausted in 1986. Now the mine there only employs a small handful of people. There is very little work to be found anywhere nearby. As bad as the rest of the county thinks the economy and unemployment are now..... it's been that way for years and years in Keystone. They were also hit his 2 big floods in the last several years.

This will be our second "Christmas" trip. Yes, we bring presents. Yes, we bring food. But the most important thing we bring is hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The time I've spent with individuals there brings joy that just cannot be measured!!!!!

This past summer I was approached by a woman there. After hearing my testimony the day before, she searched me out. We talked for just a short time when I knew that she not only HAD struggled with drugs (as she had told me), but was currently using and was high right then. We prayed together, and we had others pray with us. One of the other women I was with then put her in touch with services to help her get clean. I can't wait to see if she will be there this weekend!

One of the biggest highlights of my trips to the Appalachians was my time with Josh. Josh had been speaking with one of the men on our trip while getting his hair cut. The two of us sat and talked for quite awhile. He opened up about his past with drugs and how he was determined to stay clean when he left the half-way house we were visiting him in. I began sharing Christ with Josh and he was more than a little receptive. Finally, I asked Josh if I could pray with him to accept Christ into his life and he said YES. We prayed as I held his hands in mine. By the time we finished, we were both crying. I hugged him and told him that I loved him and God loved him. He said, "I love you too. Thank you!"

As a mother, I can honestly say that nothing in the world compares to giving birth.

And I can honestly say that nothing in the world compares to seeing someone be born again.