Greater is He...

What or who are you listening to?   There are a variety of voices in the world today, and there are influences that will affect our minds and discourage us in our walk with Christ.   Here's what 1st John 4 says:
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

As the Casting Crowns song says, "the voice of truth tells me a different story..."   And, when we are challenged, when fear, worry, or disillusionment comes our way, we have to rely on that "different" voice, the voice that testifies to and confirms the Word of God to our hearts.   With a working knowledge of the Scriptures, we gain a greater sense of what the Lord wants to do in our lives, and recognize that He has the power to bring His will to pass.

In Ephesians 3, we read a powerful Scripture that we can turn to amidst challenges that we may face in our lives:
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
Eighteen years ago, Steven Kunkel was diagnosed with autism, a developmental disorder causing problems in behavior, communication and social interaction. At age 5, Steven couldn't speak. Today, at 23, he speaks four languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. And he's learning five more -- Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese and Tagalog.   He is featured in a piece on the Baptist Press website coinciding with Autism Awareness Month.

Steven accepted Christ at age 8.   A few years later at 15, he became interested in Japan.  He was living in Uruguay at the time, with his parents who are missionaries.  While visiting some friends in Uruguay's countryside, Steven fell asleep under a tree. He dreamed a Japanese girl told him she wanted him to learn her language and culture. When Steven woke up, he had a strong desire to learn Japanese and travel to Japan.

About a year later, the family moved to Paraguay, where there is a significant Asian immigrant population.  Steven needed Paraguay to get ready to go to Japan, and there God had people in place to help with that preparation.

Two of them: Japanese pastor Koki Nowada and his Japanese-Paraguayan wife Mari. They mentored Steven in Japanese language, culture and ministry for nearly seven years while he served in their congregation.

"We're just a small house church, but we are a missionary church," Koki Nowada says. "For the Japanese children [here], seeing Steven go to Japan as a missionary has been a wonderful opportunity to learn [about] the cost of discipleship."

In 2011, 7 years after that dream, that Macedonian call to Steven, a door was opened for him to serve in Japan, assisting a Filipino congregation that needed a Japanese translator, someone to teach Japanese to Filipino church members and a worker to teach English to Japanese children. The congregation also needed help in music and outreach to Brazilian immigrants.   Steven had all those gifts - God has uniquely prepared him, and he has overcome his challenges and is serving in the land he had dreamed about.

Another young man who has faced some significant challenges has experienced an amazing triumph recently -  15-year-old Eli Reimer made history as the first recorded account of an American teenager with Down syndrome to reach a base camp of Mt. Everest.  According to Lifenews.com, after nearly two weeks of walking, Elli and his father, Justin, reached 17,600 feet in an effort to raise funds for their family’s charity, The Elisha Foundation, which offers support to families with special-needs children - they raised $85,000.

“It was surreal,” Justin Reimer told Headline News. “To be standing there at that place and see the smile on Eli’s face and the sense of accomplishment that he had, and the fact that his health was better than any of us at that point… it was humbling, it was inspiring, just an amazing moment.”

He goes on to say that,“For anybody who has a child with a disability or who is impacted in some way … the disability is not a limitation,” said Justin Reimer, adding that Eli’s life “and the lives of those with disabilities have infinite worth.”

Tragically, as LifeNews.com reports, ninety percent of unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. This extreme form of discrimination against special needs kids has reached epidemic proportions in a society that places greater value on the perfect, the convenient and the planned.

These 2 amazing stories, which appeared on the same day, are great reminders to each of us that each of us has infinite worth - that includes the child in the womb, yes, even a child that survives a botched abortion, even a child who the parents know will perhaps be born with a disability.   Steven and Eli have both had a long, difficult road, but they have been used of God to achieve what may have been unthinkable.   It drives home the Scriptural point that He is able to do beyond all that we ask or think.

You may or may not have a developmental challenge in your life.   But there may be perceived barriers or reasons why you think you cannot do what maybe you have dreamed about doing.   But, if God has placed a dream or desire on your heart, then He has the capability to bring it to pass - be encouraged in your relationship with a mighty God who can help you to overcome the challenges that you encounter.