God's Amazing Love... Africa, Part 6

I'm just curious, do you have any idea how much God loves you?  Scripture is full of beautiful verses that tell us that, but sometimes it is so hard to get truths of the Bible to move from the head to the heart.  For some reason, the depth of God's love for me has been one of those things that has been so hard for me to really get...  to really receive and live in the truth of it. 

On our last full day in Swaziland, we went on a safari...  It was supposed to be a fun day, but I was filled with an overwhelming sadness that we were leaving the next day.  I just couldn't shake it...  I fought tears all day long...  I just wanted to put my earphones in, close my eyes and lose myself in the music of Chris Tomlin...

As we were leaving the safari that day, we passed a market area where lots of people were going about their daily routine and I was filled with such an overwhelming love for the Swazi people that I almost couldn't bear it.  It caught me completely by surprise...  I've never experienced anything like that on my previous trips.

I thought, this is CRAZY...  How can I love people that I don't even know?  How can feel this kind of love for people that I don't even really like their ways much of the time?  I hate that they ask for money...  I don't like feeling like a vending machine...  I can't stand always wondering what their motives might be...

So I said, "Lord, how can I possibly feel this way?"

And from somewhere deep in my heart...  Not an audible voice, but a gentle whisper that was clearly not my own thought, said, "Now you know what My love is for you is like."

It took my breath away...  Because I understood in that moment that the love I was feeling for the Swazi people could only come from God, so that had to mean that I was tasting what His love for me was really like...  Only His love for me, for each one of us, is exponentially greater because His love is pure and perfect love. 

I can't even begin to describe what a gift that moment was...  I believe that for obedience to characterize our lives, it is essential to immerse ourselves in the love of God.  Yes, we can obey Him out of duty and obligation, but obedience that flows from a willing heart is what He longs for...  I've said this before, but Hosea 2:16 says, "'In that day,' says the LORD, 'you will call Me 'my Husband;' you will no longer call Me 'my Master.'"  That is a beautiful picture of obedience that flows from a love relationship!

God has blessed my heart in so many ways on these trips to Africa, but I have to say that that was the greatest gift of all!

I Cleaned Out My Closet... Africa, Part 5

This is one of those posts that I've wrestled with whether or not to post it...  Not because I'm worried about what you'll think...  But because the Bible tells us to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing, to keep our giving in secret.  And yet, I really think I'm supposed to tell this story because of what God has been teaching me from it...

On our last day in the community, we handed out shoes and clothes to the children at the church.  They waited so patiently as they came up one by one and their Sunday School teacher, I'll call her MJ, helped us to know what their greatest need was...  shirt, pants, shoes or a jacket...

At one point, one of our team members came up to me and pointed to a young teenage girl, holding a baby on her hip...  She had on a pair of ragged flip flops and MJ said she needed shoes.  But the problem was that her feet were rather large and we had mostly children's shoes and smaller adult sizes, so not one pair that would fit her. 

As I stood there and looked at those worn feet, she said not to worry, just to give something to the baby...  But then I knew...  her feet looked just like my daughter's feet and we wear the same size...  So I asked MJ to ask her if she would like to have my shoes...  I left that day with my socks and a joy in my heart that is beyond anything I can describe, not because I did anything special, but because God allowed me the indescribable privilege of putting shoes on a child in need.

As I've thought about that young woman over and over, my heart has longed to live a life where that kind of giving is possible on a regular basis...  God has blessed us with SO much and yet so much of it is wasted on frivolous indulgences...  Things I just don't need...

A few weeks ago, our pastor was preaching a series on Living the Good Life and he talked about the joy of giving... He also talked about what a burden our stuff can become, how it weighs us down in life and I decided then, it was time to start clearing some things out...

So yesterday I faced down my closet and decided to lighten the burden of stuff in my life...  As the hangers piled up around me...  As the bags of clothes to give away grew in number...  As I looked up from where I was sitting and still saw far too many clothes in my closet, I thought of the people of Swaziland who have so little and my heart broke...  I have never been so sorry about my selfish indulgences...  I have never been so remorseful over my frivolous spending...  In that moment, it was so clear to me that the satisfaction of something new is fleeting...  It is truly a vapor...  That there is not one thing that I own that still gives me joy and satisfaction like the memory of that beautiful child with my shoes...

Yesterday, I cleaned out my closet, but God cleaned out my heart...  Now I must guard it and not allow the stuff of this world to pollute it again...  I'm not saying you should never purchase anything nice, but there is a BIG difference between enjoying God's blessings and allowing them to master you so that you live extravagantly and wastefully...  I want more of those moments like the one in Swaziland that become imprinted on my heart, the ones that bring true and lasting joy...

Just one more post about Africa to go...  God's Amazing Love, Part 6, in a few days...

It's Not About The Task... Africa, Part 4

I didn't mean to let so much time pass before I wrote part 4, but with the start of school, life has been crazy.  I have a special project that I'm working on too, but I'll tell more about that in the coming weeks...

I've heard it said before that the 18 inches between the head and the heart is the longest journey one can make... I'm certain that's true, because it has taken me 2 years and 4 trips to Africa to really GET, what I learned on this trip...

In America, it seems like we're all about the doing...  Often it seems like something is not worthy of our time unless we can say we accomplished something.  But what Africa has taught me is that it's not about the task, it's about the relationship!

On our trip, some might say that we didn't accomplish much...  We built a shed for their cook pot one day, so they would be a little protected from the elements, when they're cooking to feed the children in their community...

It was awesome to work side by side with them!

But what was even better was the time we spent developing relationships with them!

We laughed...  we played...  we prayed... we worshiped...  It was amazing how quickly God knit our hearts together with them!

In this last photo, the young mom came to us the day before with a very sick 2 week old baby...  I don't want to share all of the details of her life, but her husband had died 6 months before and there wasn't much reason to be hopeful...

That evening, our team got together and decided to pool our money and buy some groceries for her and her family...  It wasn't much, some sausage, sugar beans, oranges, vegetables and corn meal flour, but it was the best way we knew to show her God's love...

So in the photo, we had taken her the food...  It was the first time I had seen her smile!  Her whole countenance changed!  Later that afternoon, I was talking to her older brother and I said, "S...  Does your sister love Jesus they way you do?"  He said that he had been talking to her for a while, but that she didn't really want to listen...  And then what he said has rooted itself in my heart...  He said, "But today, she SAW the love of Jesus by what your team did.  Now she has hope, so maybe now she will listen!"

And that's when it hit me...  We aren't there to fix anything, we can't, the problems are too BIG...  On a short term mission trip, there's very little we can do to even make their lives better, but what we can do is bring hope to them and strengthen them, and that happens in relationships!


I was struck the other day as I was reading Psalm 10...  Verses 17-18 say that the LORD (when all caps is used for LORD, it's Yahweh... I Am...  God's highest name that reminds us that He is Sovereign over all things)...  He hears the desires of the afflicted...  He strengthens their heart...  He inclines His ear to them...  But He does that through us...  To say that we are His hands and feet is not a trite expression, it's what He intends...  Not because He needs us, but because He chooses to!

I've had such a hard time really getting this, but just by showing up, God can use me to bring hope and encouragement...  He can use me to strengthen others!  I've heard it on every trip...  "I'm encouraged because you came..."  "I know that God cares because you came here today..."  "I know that God sees us, because you came..."  None of those comments came from people whose physical circumstances had changed because of anything we did...  But their hearts had been encouraged, just because we went!

But you know, you don't have to go to Africa to be used by God to strengthen another...  You can "show up" to a widow...  An elderly neighbor...  As a tutor in school...  At a soup kitchen....  There are a hundred ways to "show up,"  just down down the road...  maybe even across the street!

I pray that God will give us all a person to 'show up' to this week...  There's not much that will bless your heart more!