I have no idea what it means to search for water and to bring it home, but Dani does, so I invited her outside to talk as I was reading about the woman at the well in John 4. Today is a Dominican Catholic holiday, so the kids are out of school.
Daniela's family would go to the river down the hill to get water.
We made about 3 trips a day down and up with Mami, David, and Grabiela (sister that is after Jessica and before D). Mom had saved them when she found gallons in the trash, street or if she bought clean water for Jessica, a baby, to drink. If Mami found paint buckets, she would clean them out for David to carry. David could carry two of the paint buckets. He took a lot of breaks because they were heavy. Mom had a bucket on her head and two in her hands. Grabby couldn't always help because she had bad asthma. (Eventually, Grabby went to live with a new family that could take care of her). I could carry 3-1 gallon jugs.
One time Papi found a broken tinaco, water storage usually on a house, where we could collect rain water and also store our buckets. My Dad didn't know, but when it rained the tinaco would fill up quickly, so David and I would jump in and make a pool out of it. We would dump the water and let the rain fill it up before Papi came home with clean rain water.
The first two trips were the house water to cook, drink, clean, do dishes, give parents' showers, wash feet, and give to the plants. The last trip was for kids' showers. Sometimes, we would just bathe in the river to not have to bring the water home. My gallons were to be set in the sun to get warm and be used for a night shower. We always showered at night and then in the morning. It's a Dominican thing, Mom. We didn't like doing this job, but it was a necessity to survive. We didn't have running water in my house. I can't stand when Jessica wastes gas when she cooks by letting the pot heat up. We didn't have the luxury of wasting gas. Our rich neighbor allowed us to use his electricity line. David did work for him for 50 cents a day and he let us steal his electricity.
Would you ever leave the water jug and not take it home? NO! We couldn't live without that water!
I love hearing stories from D! Don't you?
I was talking to my friend Wanzie the other day. She asked me what do you want FIGHT Ministries to be known for? Do you want to be a generic ministry that fits the mold? I got off with her and prayed, God, what do You want here? I was on the other side of the property trying to do laundry. I have access to 3 washers and 2 dryers and NONE are working properly right now. That's another story, but I asked Him, what do YOU want here?
Yes, we have a mission. Our purpose is to restore hope, healing, security, and safety to children through the power of Christ. But what does that look like?
As soon as I asked God, I heard be the woman at the well. I instantly almost cried. This really is my life already. I had an encounter with Jesus and I have been running and telling my story ever since. Dani met Jesus and has been telling her story ever since. People often ask why is Dani so open to tell others? Because she met JESUS. No one that has encountered Jesus can be kept quiet. There are no, I was a good kid and got Saved and my life is basically the same. I do not see that story in the Bible, ever. Why? Because Jesus changes you from dead to alive--old to new.
We want to develop a place that emulates the lady at the well.
Let me tell you about her:
A Samaritan Woman Meets Her MessiahTherefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spiritand truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
The Whitened Harvest
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored;others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
The Savior of the World
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I everdid.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
FIGHT Ministries is a place where God encounters people, it's supernatural things flowing with His presence. It is going to be stories and stories of what He has done. FIGHT already is that. We are known as the crazy ministry with the "crazy God stories." We have seen miracles, words, prophecy, wisdom, big faith, healing, dreams, giving, favor, and more. We glorify His works here, not people who do good and do what seems good. We once turned down a man that promised to fundraise millions for us, as he did in Africa, but Luke wouldn't partner with him because he wasn't working through the Spirit, but out of his own power and resources. A few months ago I spiritually fasted for 35 days and felt God ask me to do a HIIT workouts for 30 minutes with my fitness group. Not only did I keep with everyone but was going even faster with heavier weights sometimes! You can't make this stuff up and you couldn't do it in your own power IF YOU TRIED! But with God, the impossible happens! I had every excuse to not workout because I had no food in me to be able to do it! Yet, He said, "go" and I went. I silently cried at that miraculous feat!
One time a donor gave me $5,000 dollars! God said give it to FIGHT. I wasn't sure I heard Him correctly so I double prayed on that... and handed it over as a donation to the ministry. What happened the NEXT WEEK? I WAS GIVEN $5,000 USD dollars again.
If it isn't going to glorify God, we don't to be part of it! We want the Jesus exalted stories. Have we gotten every dollar to fund this facility? Yes. Has it been in a miraculous way that honors God and shows others that He did it? YES! We don't even fundraise the way other organizations fundraise and we see hundreds of thousands come in.
I am in a season of prayer for staff. Staff that are so in love with Jesus Christ. People that have met Him and are now committed whole-heartedly to telling the stories to get others out of the trenches of darkness into the LIGHT. Can you help us find these people that God has chosen? Our bar is set high: you must be committed to exalting Jesus and not yourself. You must love others. You must be more concerned about others than your rights, your wants, your desires, what you are offended by, your comforts--you must be willing to run back.
Why am I chosen to lead this place? We are developing something very powerful here. I am here to protect this Holy Ground. Healing is coming and we will do everything to create an environment where God can come and do HIS THING, IN HIS PEOPLE! (Why does this make me cry?!! What did He say in verse 4 above?)
Exactly. He needed to go and meet her there. Jesus met me there, too. A crying girl bent down at a dryer in 2001 hysterically crying to please help me if you are real or I am going to die when my BFF died. He needed to go to me and that day my life changed. I didn't know who I encountered that day, but I went searching in every church I could visit.
Dani. A girl crying. Begging for help. He needed to go to her. And we all know her powerful story of redemption.
Even today, HE STILL COMES. 7.5 billion people in the world to deal with and God still looks down to a young girl in the Dominican Republic with tears running down her face. And He came to me, quickly.
I finished working out and a song came on shuffle and the kids already walked home as I stretched. I started to cry at this song that had deep meaning to me from an old boyfriend who was emotionally hurtful in his words/actions. As I sat there, Jesus' sweet words entered my Spirit asking me why do you hold onto these memories? What did you expect of a man that doesn't follow Me? He knew no better than the way he acted. But on the flip side, my identity is not in that person's behavior. As Wanzie texted me, let it go! Geesh, I didn't even know it was there until this old song popped on! But the Lord's revelation was so deep. It's almost scary to think there are things that you don't realize you harbor.
But today, He came and showed me we needed to make some changes in my thinking. Ahh, My Phyllis. Daughter, I want to talk to you. We need to clean this out of you. There's no space here for that.
LOVED, SO LOVED! God is not too busy to come to YOU!
These stories are never going to end until the day I die. You are never going to stop hearing about it from me because I have tasted and seen it repeatedly. And after I die, people will still be talking about what Jesus did in my life!
So here is what you are going to continue to see coming out of FIGHT:
We want rescued girls and staff running from here, leaving their water pots, to tell the town, the country, the world what they encountered here: JESUS.
| Dani, Jess, oldest sister, niece in front, after mom passed away |
