This brings me to deep tears in knowing how to take this visual reality and apply it to how I make decisions in my livelihood in the States. The faith in God's abiding love remains a choice to embrace, no matter what circumstances surround me. How do i let conveniences allowed in States life to blind me from seeing that love amidst my life challenges?. I never want my heart to forget the plights of my brothers and sisters outstretched around the world and the need to be an active participant in the decisions I make to extend God's love even across the way. It was abundant joy to witness sustainability becoming part of their story.
It was an emotional journey to witness the harvest of Gichagi vapor center in its entirety. When i left in 2010, the seeds had been planted, but today I saw its full bloom in so many ways, both literally and spiritually. I saw fences surrounding a piece of land that were reaped after hard work in obedience to Christ's leading. I saw soccer teams playing with passion and involvement. IT was a joyful encouragement to see how a safe haven has been built by God using gichagi staff to invest in its people and to create a culture within the center to be a sharpening presence for people who come. The building of it required patience from the rains push backs, grace amidst challenges from the enemy, and faith in God's provision to use the people He positioned within it. There is such joy in being a testament to the steps leading up to this day and to see that God is using those investments to advance the gospel in such a specific way. Furthermore, that this kingdom building is being continued by the beautiful lives of local people following God's call for ministry in their lives. Absolutely incredible!
I am honored to truly know my African community and to have spent time encouraged in the hospitable warmth in their homes. God continues to use their hospitality to teach me deeply about a life lived in full faith to extend Christ's relentless love and His provision. Their generosity within their simplistic lifestyles is both humbling and refreshing. It is a love that I hope to offer in the States and to be someone who takes time to invest in the sharing our lives with others. I learn so much from the ways they are so very relational- always stopping to greet you in joy- to ask about your day with pure intent to know you better- and to lend a hand of support and of encouragement no matter how much they have to offer. Quantity is never an issue for the quality of their care is not primarily dependent on their own problems, but they also look to the interests of those around them.
In our cultures allowed conveniences we often neglect to see the ways others, in other parts of the world, are forced to respond to painful situations. I was met time and again in bearing witness to God's testimonials in the lives of our friends there who have walked painful deaths of losing children, parents, many loved ones and to hear the ways in which resources affected burials and the mourning process. When you hear stories of joy amidst hard pressed moments, you can only sit in deep pondering that joy is truly not dependent on our desired circumstances, but fully granted on a heart at rest in God as cornerstone.
how to apply?! I know what I know from its teachings; I can not sit idly by, forgetting what I can apply from its time of growth.
"The eye never forgets what the heart has seen." african proverb
As I sit now Stateside, my heart attempts to process thru all that I have just experienced and to know what to do with the places to treasure and to ponder upon my heart. I think one of the deepest places my heart has rested is that what is asked of me in Africa is also asked of me in the States: to love others, to care about their plights, and to participate in their story. Shane Claiborne articulated it well as he voiced, "And I think thats what our world is desperately in need of- lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about." Poverty is not an event; its a positioning that often requires support from others to change into sustainability. My community in africa has taught me that I must not use people in financial stretchings as a place to document mission trips of service, but as a means to stop and to sit with others and to hear their story. Third world environments hold a plethora of need that is certain and I always want to have a heart open for the ways I can participate as a helper for change within them. Yet, this trip also reminded me that if I forsake my neighbors and only minister in these event based moments, then i am fully missing the point. The Great Commission is present in far away places as well as the neighboring borders. How am I loving those around me, in relationships, with fellow strugglers? ARe the things that I am most concerned about: orphans, widows, impoverished, the marginalized, sex trafficked only an event of mind- or do I know their stories? Know their names and serve as an advocate for their cause because I walk in relationship with them?
Person oriented vs. task oriented culture-- African time is something that is the hardest place for me to be at rest without transitioning back home. Sure, there are challenges of its slowness when you look strictly at efficiency in the business world. I remember that tension when trying to build the center. And the task oriented nature of culture in the States yields its success and its growth. Yet, this trip, I savored the bounty of African time. Pole Pole- slowly slowly, that behind african time is people taking time for people. I think back to a quote I read by Paul Tripp that has marked my heart in many ways: "You don't live life in big moments. You live life in the utterly mundane. If God doesn't rule your mundane, then he doesn't rule you." I felt testament to that truth while walking the roads of Ngong. I witnessed mamas serving other mamas by combining laundry to wash together, children helping other children earn enough money for dinner that night, men helping men build homes for their family and people taking time for people for chai time together. How can I connect others to the mundane of our days, and be an example of the gospel? "out of your vulnerabilities, come your strengths." How can i be vulnerable in the messy, weary parts of our days and simply come ready to let the needs combine with others and lets just build up one another?
"For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction." I believe each of us have places that tenderize our heart in such deepening ways. When we have experienced immense life change, we want to stay there, immersed in its growth. The news portrays most things to its most intense, scariest form. Yet, like most would testify, when you have experienced its goodness, fear no longer succumbs to your foremost thoughts. AFrica romanticizes my heart in the biggest of ways. This trip reminded me of the strong pull that it is for my heart. Although the culture is starkly different than what we know here, I embrace it and I grow so much from it. In this process, I have felt what this quote states: completely undone by its planting in my heart. Because of this, I can cling to it, often times as an idol of heart: comparing my season in the now to fumes of connection in moments lived there. Piper voiced, "the music of the rescued saints is a tremendous means of evangelism." Africa has totally transformed my heart and I pray with every fiber, God continues to not let me forget His work in my heart thru it. He has put a new song in my heart thru my time there, and I pray that this continues to be tremendous means of evangelism in my life. What I realized this trip was that the idol of heart i can easily place for Africa's connection is that the growth that comes from is not from Africa's doing, but from God's desire to transform my heart for His glory. So, what ultimately romanticizes my heart is straight from the relentless pursuit of my Father, to use His positioning as a means to teach me the true marks of the gospel. Something i love about Africa is the matter of simplistic focus you quickly embrace. But, I experienced that in that focus, my heart is less distracted on me, and more on God's work in me. How can I choose moments in my day to set apart from distractions of this culture, and let God 'achieve his greatest expression' in my heart? How can lay aside any places where I idolize and feel God's transforming hand so vividly and know that He is present anywhere, at anytime?
In walking down the Ngong road leaving, with tears in my eyes from visuals of children running down the hill, and transforming joy in my heart as I witnessed God's faithfulness in his people. I felt the truth of Psalms so deeply:
"Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to your people."
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your heart. God blesses me through you 🌺
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