Reverend Eastwood Anaba, President of the Eastwood Anaba Ministries (EAM), has encouraged Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) to rise above their challenges and use their brain to achieve higher heights in their lives.
He urged them to stop giving excuses and stop throwing their hands in despair, and live-in self-pity over their disabilities, “if one part of your body is dysfunctional, God has given you another part to complement it.
“The fact that you are in a wheelchair does not mean your brain is in a wheelchair, your eyes are not in a wheelchair, your spirit is not in a wheelchair, get up and save your family,” he said.
Reverend Anaba made the call while preaching a sermon entitled “But he was a leper”, at a four-day open crusade dubbed “Bolga for Christ crusade and a day for help for persons with disabilities”, organised by the Christ to the Rural World Outreach Mission.
He told the congregation that some people immediately declared themselves useless as soon as they got into wheelchairs, emphasising that God in His infinite mercy gave them parts in their bodies to complement disabled parts for them to live normally.
He noted that Naaman in the Bible was the Commander of the Syrian Army but he was a leper, saying “Naaman refused to be counselled, he said I have leprosy but I will still lead an army, I will still be a man of value, I will still be a great man, I cannot be stopped.
“Naaman was a defiant leper. I don’t know what scar you are carrying in life, maybe you got an accident and they cut off one of your legs, or you were born blind, but no matter the setback you carry, I see you as an overcomer,” he encouraged the congregation.
Reverend Anaba, who is also a Senior Pastor at Desert Pastures, a branch Church of Fountain Gate Chapel in Bolgatanga, likened leprosy to all forms of challenges in the lives of people which prevented them from achieving their goals in life.
The EAM President challenged people in the Upper East Region to rise above excuses and not allow their situations, especially the lack of education and their place of origin to stop them from working to support and deliver their families from poverty.
“Being a Frafra, a Dagaati, Dagomba, a Kusaasi will not stop you. If your ways please God, you will stand before Kings. I declare that nothing will stop you in the name of Jesus,” Reverend Anaba told the congregation at the crusade.
The crusade attracted several people, especially the less privileged from across the Region and beyond, who also benefitted from medical screening, relief items including clothes, mattresses, cooking oils, food, buckets, soap among others from the Outreach Mission.
Apart from Reverend Anaba, other main preachers at the crusade were Reverend Steve Mensah, General Overseer of the Charismatic Evangelistic Ministry (CEM) in Accra and Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, Senior Pastor of the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) in London.
