Greetings from the other side of the ocean.
Today is our last full day here in
Kenya.
It always seems that whatever amount of time
I pass on these soils, it always flashes by full of
goodness and questions and answers and
laughter and frustrations and joy and love.
All these things that seem to be mutually exclusive are wrapped up in to
one chapter in the story the Lord is writing of my life.
We just got home from a Muslim wedding.
It was beautiful.
They are from the Nubian tribe and I just
looked around and soaked it all in.
Lots
of music, and shrills, and beautiful colors.
Many little things have transpired over the course of the
last few days.
(Oooppsss… I was just
side-tracked by a visitor.
She shared
from her heart her struggles, and while trying to keep one ear to the Father, the
Lord began showing me lies that she was listening to.
It is moments like this that make me love
being here even more.)
We continue to
move a little each day. This has been a semi-daunting task.
We are moving out of Kibera to a safer area
of time, yet still doing all our ministry here.
This morning I had a hard, but necessary conversation with one of our
orphans that needed to happen; many tears were shed on her part.
I feared that I hurt her feelings, but I know
I spoke truth.
Just now I saw her at the
wedding and she grabbed my hand and talked much to me…this made my heart at
rest.
Yesterday I awoke to a frog in my bathroom.
(Really it was a toad, but I would like to
pretend it was my frog prince.)
Then
there was some rioting on our road.
Muslims tore and burnt a church.
The police came and gun shots were fired.
We could hear it all the way down where we
stay.
I dropped food off at one of my favorite
Kenyan women’s house and the look on her face was priceless.
Then I had to go to the dentist to get a food
particle removed from in-between my teeth.
I laughed the whole time.
Then a
Kenyan woman came over and it was great for her to vent how she was
feeling.
These days are full, but I miss
it.
I have been really praying about coming back in
January.
I would like so much for you
all to join in with me on that.
I don’t
have any clear direction as of yet.
I was reading in 2 Chronicles 14 today.
In verse 11 Asa says, “Lord, there is no one
like you to help the powerless against the mighty.
Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you,
and in your name we have come against this vast army.
O Lord, you are our God: do not let man
prevail against us.”
And if you read
farther it explains how the Lord struck down and crushed the opposing army
because He had fallen upon them.
The Asa
and the army plundered the villages because there was so much booty there.
And I thought to myself, this is beautiful.
The Lord responded to Asa’s cry for help and
He not only responded, but in HUGE ways…so much so that the plunder
overflowed.
And somehow I think this is
how the Lord still works with us.
When
the Lord and His glory and power falls on us, we prevail by just trusting.
Yet we try so hard to do things, when in
reality, maybe all we need to do is trust.
Maybe trust is the hardest thing for us to do?
I want to live in the Lord’s plunder…daily.
This past month has been fabulous and there are far too many
things to share, but I am gearing up to return back to the states.
This morning I got a pedicure to get all the
dirt out of my toes.
The most exciting
thing about it, I felt no pain when she was massaging my right foot, which is a
huge step.
I had a moment at the salon
with the Lord of thanksgiving.
Amy Carmichael said this morning, “We are never staying in
the valley or the rough waters; we are always only passing through them, just
as the bride in Song of Songs is seen coming up from the wilderness learning on
her Beloved.
So whatever the valley is,
or however rough the waters are, we won’t fear.
Leaning on our Beloved we shall come up from the wilderness and, as
Psalms 84.6 says, even use the valley as a well, make it a well.
We shall find the living waters there and
drink from them.”
May you all find living waters, whether you are in a valley
or a mountain top.
Thanks for being part of my story.
