Good and Gracious King
I'm most in awe of how good and gracious God has been to work in and through us to share the love and joy of Jesus with the kids and parents at the parks. The Lord used all of our diverse giftings for his glory. Each of us shared the Gospel differently, using different verses and approaches, many times to the same kids. Kids were listening, engaged in our Gospel conversations, object lessons, Bible verse songs, and Biblical crafts. They accepted highlighted Bibles and they hunger for more of him. We sowed many seeds. God was generous in showing us Gospel fruit as they engaged in activities and conversations. By his grace, we witnessed penitent hearts and trust in Jesus. Heaven will be truly amazing witnessing all God has done! We see the Lord's work dimly now, but we look forward to the day when we will fully apprehend what He has done here.
Friday was the last day for our team, as well as for the park hosts, who have been at Russian Jack for the past 8 weeks. The kids and GraceWorks volunteers alike were sad for us to leave. There were hugs, notes, gifts and phone numbers exchanged. Our team and park hosts left the kids with the truth that Jesus is always with them, always listening and caring, always wanting them to talk with him like a friend walking next to them. We said He will never leave you or forsake you, and that he loves us more than you can possibly think or imagine. We trust God to continually bring these truths to their minds and hearts. We're thankful for partner churches here in Anchorage, who will reach out to the families at each of the parks where Graceworks ministered.
Saturday we drove to Talkeetna, Alaska for a post ministry time with our team. We were all thankful for time to share our experiences with each other and to thank the Lord for how He was pleased to use us as His instruments of His grace in the lives of the kids as well as each other. We are also thankful to have more sleep.
We woke up Sunday morning to see Mt. Denali covered in clouds. The clouds and mist slowly moved throughout the day, and finally we could see Mt. Denali clearly! The tip of the mountain can only be seen a handful of times during the summer. It was amazing to see it in its full, God-given majesty! The Lord is a glorious creator! Whether we were flying through the air on a zipline, enjoying the water or beautiful flowers, we marveled at God's beauty. We are very eager to come home with the same passion we had here, that the Lord will use us and our team members for all the nations to put their trust in the Son.
-Amy Preston
