One of the life-changing opportunities that I have had on mission trips to Nicaragua is to visit some of the prisons there. Going there each time has had a profound effect on me spiritually and emotionally. We go with a local pastor who visits and cares for these men and women, and many of them have found Christ and are now Christians. This pastor is a man of God with such a heart for Jesus, and he just shines. He is not a rich man, and in fact, sometimes, he can hardly afford the gas to drive there. He is supported by a small church in rural Ontario, Canada.

The inmates' families have to supply their loved ones with toilet paper and some of the food each day, so on our visits, we brought bottles of soda pop, bananas, and toilet paper for everyone. At the first prison that we went to, I stayed out and organized into little bags the pop and supplies that we had brought, while others ministered and prayed with some of the men and women. Then as a whole group, we went down the ramp into the darker area of the jail. There is a hierarchy of order in the cells, so we were told to give the supplies to each cell boss, and he or she would reach out, take the bags, and give them to their cell mates.

The prison was very overcrowded with 25 to 30 men in one cell but only four to six beds. The beds had springs but no mattresses. There were five cells in that jail, and one of the cells was for the women. They sleep on the dirty floors, and if they are lucky, a piece of cardboard. If the prison allows it, we can and do bring the milk bag mats for them to sleep on. In that jail, there was no exercise yard. Some of the men are tattooed, and there is a smell of human sweat and other odours in the air. We received catcalls and were obviously a form of entertainment in their dreary existence. We smiled at them and went around to each cell handing out the supplies.

When we were done handing out the gifts that we had brought, before we departed, we got together as a group of women and started to sing God's praises to the men and women in that place. Almost instantly, the noise stopped, and we could all feel the presence of God as we sang in harmony and in a round the words, Father, Jesus, Spirit, I adore You, Lay my life before You, How I love You.

Simple words, but oh! so powerful. The Holy Spirit was with us, protecting us and guiding us. As we sang praises to our King, a holy hush fell on that dirty jail. Into that dark jail, we brought more of God's light. It was already there, but it shone brighter that day because we had visited.

Is God calling you to step out of your comfort zone and go into the darkness?

Prayer: Father, our hearts are full of tears for the brokenness in us all and for our need of Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour. We give thanks for those who witness to prisoners and bring them the good news of our hope in Jesus Christ. May more of us answer Your call to mission, which leads us into places where You are needing us to go. Amen.

Hebrews 5:13 – For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. (NKJV)

I was sleeping, or I thought I was, and the thought came to me, If you want to build churches (not necessarily physically), get them into My Word. The Word is like a muscle that can propel us forward. It creates thirst, and it makes us hungry. When we are hungry, we will want to reach out to others who are hungry, so that we can have a feast together, where we can talk and share about things that matter. Then, we will want to teach others so that they can feed themselves.

I have a granddaughter, Maisy, who, when she was born, had an instinctive desire to nurse and get the milk that she needed. As she did so, she gained the necessary weight to begin to thrive.

Unfortunately, Maisy contracted a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and she had to go onto a feeding tube. While it maintained her weight and her life, she did not grow. She lost the desire to nurse, and the nursing muscle in her mouth and cheeks weakened. A specialist was sent in to advise my daughter. In the end, after a two-week stay in the hospital, Maisy regained her strength and was able to feed on her own.

During that time in hospital, I was touched by the many church friends in that community who supported the little family in their time of need. I know that her church family will help Maisy on her faith journey so that she will know her Lord and have a real relationship with Him.

I see some parallels between what happened to Maisy and what occurs in our churches and in our faith walk. Maisy is like the newborn Christian who begins with zest and hunger for the Word. But then, she is attacked and must go back to only milk. Milk allows her to survive but not to grow and mature.

Likewise, we Christians need the solid food of God's Word in our lives, day by day, if we, too, are to thrive and mature as His people.

I have discovered that the more I am in the Word, the more that I thirst for the Word. And the more that I thirst for the Word, the more that I want to be a doer and sharer of the Word as a true follower of Jesus.

Going to church and Bible study is a good beginning to receiving and understanding the Word, but it is not enough in itself. We also need to learn to get our own solid food, instead of totally relying on ministers to spoon-feed us. We must learn to read and study the Bible for ourselves and to encourage others to do likewise, that we in the body of Christ might become skilled in the Word of righteousness.

Prayer: Thank You, Abba Father, for Your care and for the opportunities that You give us to be part of a church family. Help us, Lord, to take our role, as Your followers, to help to encourage others in their faith journey. Make us mindful of our own need to be fed by Your Word. Keep us on the path that follows You. Amen.

The woman approached us, and we started to chat. I said, "I detect a British accent." She said, "That's right." She asked where we were from, and we told her. She said, "I have been to Canada, to Toronto and Montreal, and a place where you had to get there by boat." I said "Nova Scotia?" and she said "That's the place." She sat down with us, and I reached over and touched her icy-cold hands that seemed to be locked in position. I said, "Your hands are cold. Don't you have any gloves?" She said, "I did, but the police took them when they took all my stuff. Somebody had bought me two really nice pairs of gloves." She told me about her wicked landlord who had doubled her $900-a-month rent. She said that there had been rats in the basement coming up into the apartment. She never asked for money, but I reached into my purse and gave her a $20 bill. She seemed surprised and delighted, and right away, she said, "I am going to get a Chinese dinner." I replied, "You just do that, and enjoy it. I am sorry that you have to live on the streets." She said, "That's all right; God is with me. There are people down here on the streets that are suicidal, and they come and talk to me. I help them." As we parted, she reached up and kissed me on the cheek, and we gave each other hugs. She asked me to pray for her, and I said I would.

I had felt Jesus in this whole encounter, but at that moment and since then, I have been thinking that it was as if Jesus Himself were in that older woman. It humbled me and caused me to think that Jesus can use anyone to draw us to Himself. It was powerful.

When people ask me what the best part of our trip to New York was, I would have to say that it was my encounter with that homeless woman.

Matthew 25:37-40 – Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." (NKJV)

May each of our hearts be open this day to the possibility of encountering Jesus within those whom we meet and treating them as if they were the Lord, Himself.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the opportunities that You give us each and every day to encounter You in those around us. May our eyes be open to Your presence in our midst and our hearts be ready and able to embrace all of them in the Spirit and love of Jesus. In Christ's name, we ask. Amen.

Jeff Davie was a beautiful young man. When Jeff and Joe, his childhood friend, had been out west in the summer the year before Jeff had become sick, they had climbed a mountain together. When they reached the top, as he looked upwards into the heavenly sky and felt the wind on his face, Jeff had held his arms up in praise to God in the shape of a "Y". This "Y" symbol that Jeff used that day took on special meaning to his friends as they looked over the pictures they had of their dear friend. Consequently, at Jeff's funeral, all his friends wore the initials "JYD" to honour him.

As the first anniversary of Jeff's death approached in November 2009, Joe and Jenny, his bride-to-be, travelled from Canada to Australia to visit Jenny's sister. Joe agonized about being away for the anniversary, but committed to do something in memory of Jeff. On November 16th, Joe, Jenny, and Holly, Jenny's sister, boarded a train for the Glasshouse Mountain National Park. There, they were going to choose a mountain to climb in honour of Jeff. Apparently, there were several mountains to choose from. It was a hot day, and when they got off the train, a female stranger offered them a drive to the mountains. They chose one that was not a straight-up climb, because they had no climbing gear. It was called Mt. Ngungun, a mountain considered sacred by the aboriginal people of Australia. They made the climb in just over an hour, and when they got to the top of this random mountain they had chosen, Joe made the push to the very top. There he discovered three initials deeply etched — not just scratched — into the rocks: "JYD". Here were his beloved friend's initials surrounding the special symbol signifying Jeff raising his hands in praise to God!

God knew that day that Joe especially needed to feel the comfort of His presence on that mountain in Australia, far from his own home. God's special, loving surprise spoke volumes to Joe and Jenny. Later, I saw the picture of Joe with his own hands raised in the shape of a "Y" in praise to God. As Joe and Jenny have since shared their story with Jeff's family and his friends, it has meant a great deal to us all. Some may want to call it a coincidence, but I know in all my heart and soul that it was a gift from our heavenly Father to comfort those who continue to mourn here on earth.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (NIV)

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 – We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (NIV)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are a God of comfort and compassion. We thank You, Lord, that when we are in our valley of grief, You come alongside us and give us a mountaintop experience to give us comfort. Thank You for the knowledge that You know what it is like to lose Your Son, and that His death was not in vain. Thank You for loving us so dearly and taking our lives so seriously, that You would die on the cross for our salvation, and visit us with the comfort we need in our grief. Say "Hi!" to Jeff for us, and let him know that his death was not in vain either! In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.