GOD HAD A PLAN
by Angie Hanlon-Toth
DREAMS DO COME TRUE! I went on a mission trip to Bogota, Colombia with a team from Risen King Alliance Church (RKAC) in May 2013, a trip that I was not going to shortly forget. One cold, rainy evening, we drove up a curvy mountain road to visit a community in Santa Cecilia. I can’t explain why but my heart was instantly captured. Not by the muddy road or the
wild dogs running around, not by the cold empty frame of a building with a grey cement floor, not even by the view from the high mountain top. No...my heart was captured by the dream, the dream shared by Pastora Lucy, to build a community that would provide spiritual, emotional and physical transformation to the people living in Santa Cecilia. YES, DREAMS DO COME TRUE! Pastora Lucy began to explain the dream. It was to build a church that provides; spiritual growth for members, an orphanage and training center for educational support for the children and youth, and skill-development for women. This organization is called FORMAVIDA. They wanted to transform the community from one that was known for its violence, drugs, and crime to one that would be known for its compassion, self-worth, and self-esteem. In November 2014, I returned to Colombia and saw the completed church, kids playing, and women sewing hats, scarves and bags. I praised God for His miracle. A few months passed before my return in March 2015 with a team of ten members from RKAC whose goal was to build a home for a family living in unbearable conditions. This team was God’s answer to FORMAVIDA’S five year prayer for that family. As the RKAC team built a home from the ground up, the community came together as one. Pastora Lucy’s faith set a dream in motion. As God’s apprentices, we followed His will. Consequently, the lives of the family and everyone involved have been changed. As a response to the call of God for world missionary service and a commitment to transform lives, I returned to Santa Cecilia in March 2016 with a second team of ten to build a second home for an orphaned family of three siblings. Part of the dream was to build a home for them where they could live together, enjoy the love of Christ as a family, and serve the Lord from their new home. It was the prayer of their community that the Lord would fill their hearts and they would experience the Fatherly love of God through this experience. For the past several years I have joined God in Colombia with the College of Prayer in Bogota and the RKAC Builders in Santa Cecilia. I want to continue to advance His mission and to labor for Jesus Christ. Where He leads me, I will follow. Where He calls me, I will go. He whispers, “My desire is for you to come with me to the mountain top. ARISE and trust me for I know the desires of your heart….I delight in you. Come with me to the mountain top, take my hand…”
Pastora Lucy, the members and I partner with the Lord in His mission in Santa Cecilia. His plans are to build a recreation center and a school on top of the hill in Santa Cecilia which will be called The Coliseum. We have spent much time in prayer, seeking God's direction as to how we will accomplish this amazing task. On Saturday, July 16, 2016, I invited a few brothers and sisters in Christ for a prayer meeting in my home to seek the Lord’s direction on this matter. The prayer meeting was absolutely amazing. God showed up in a mighty and powerful way prophesying through His children the plans that He has on His heart for Colombia. We are partnering with Fundacion Formavida, based on God’s promise to give us victory in purchasing the land and provide all the necessary resources. This He has confirmed through Isaiah 42:1-16. To this end, we have created Forming Lives Foundation in New York as an extension of Fundacion Formavida in Colombia.
