Finding The Strength...

I have to be honest—When my alarm went off at 5:00am Friday morning, my first thought was, “Lord, I am gonna need you to get me through the day.”  It had already been a long week.  I was exhausted and I barely had the energy or willpower to roll out of bed.  I had no idea how I was going to last for another 16 hours.  But I knew that lying there any longer wouldn’t help either, so I talked myself out of bed. 

No surprise, I didn’t have the energy to good breakfast either.  And quarrelling with the little charcoal stove was not on my to-do list for the day.  I slathered a piece of dry bread with some pb & j and walked my three miles to school.

On Fridays, I am responsible for teaching the student chapel before lunch. Then, at the end of the school day I take a handful of my kiddos to Deaf church for Bible study.  As I pondered the day ahead, I realized that it was 7:12am and already I was looking for a pace to sit…how on earth was I going to make it?

Apparently, I had forgotten that my strength is not dependent on the quality of sleep I got (or didn’t get) the night before.  My strength is in Him—and unlike me, He does not grow weary.  Little did I know, He was about to give me a little lesson on that verse…

After finishing the science lesson with my 4^th graders, I began preparing for the chapel service.  For most of the morning I had been dreading it, but at some point, late in the morning, I began feeling a sense of excitement.  A subtle assurance that it was going to be okay.

Turns out, it was not okay—it was fabulous!

The memory verse of the week had been Ephesians 6:11 and I began teaching the students about the importance of wearing the armor of God.  I had prepared a couple of demonstrations and was very happy to see how attentive my young students were.  As always, I concluded the lesson and asked if there were any questions.  Initially, my babies sat silent. No one ever wants to be the first to raise their hand.  But scripture says that where 2 or more are gathered, God is in their midst.  And I know for sure that He was there in that classroom.

Soon, hands began to rise and questions started floating my way…and before long I had questions and comments coming from all corners of the room:

“The helmet protects our head…what about our eyes?”

“Why does the Bible tell us to wear armor? I thought God doesn’t like fighting…”

“Is Moses in heaven?”

I could see that God was really speaking to their hearts and I smiled as I gazed around the room.  Nearly every student had ‘concentration’ stamped across their foreheads. Gears were turning and the questions continued:

“If Satan asks for forgiveness, will God let him into heaven?”

“How many times will God forgive me when I sin?”

“Is it okay for Christians to eat pork?”

“What is the book of life?”

“God made the world…but who made God?”

For nearly two hours we sat in that classroom and discussed and pondered the Word of God.  I am confident that in a perfect world, we could have continued our conversation until the sun went down.  But, unfortunately, this place isn’t perfect; time is limited…and my kids had to eat lunch.  Nonetheless, I promised them that we could resume the conversation later.

As I prepared for bed later that night, my heart was overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for God.  My mind was wandering in a dozen different directions, replaying the events of the day and thanking God for the work He is doing deep within each of my babies.

Then it suddenly dawned on me—it was almost midnight and I was wide awake!  Nearly 17 hours before, my body could barely muster enough energy to keep me standing upright.  And there I was, lying in bed, bouncing with energy!

“…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Isaiah 40:31

I had read that verse so many times before.  I had heard it quoted and I had even done so myself…but on Friday night that verse finally became real to me.

This life in Uganda is not easy—nearly every day I find myself standing at the foot of a mountain and God is asking me to climb.  I look around, see only my utter weakness and physical fatigue and I quickly become busy looking for alternative routes and shortcuts.  For years I had read and believed the scriptures that said my strength is in Him…and it wasn’t until Friday that I truly understood what God had been saying to me.  He really IS my strength—literally, figuratively, spiritually.  He hasn’t called me to this place so that I can do this and that…He has called me here so that HE can do it.

What a peaceful realization. 

Dancing In The Rain...

Praise Jesus!  It is raining here in Kampala today!

I have come to realize that it is easy to take the ‘little’ things in life for granted.  Especially in the US, we don’t think twice about our water supply.  When we are thirsty, we twist the handle at the kitchen sink and pow! We have water!  When it is time to shower, we again have an endless supply of clean water with a quick turn of the faucet.  The same is true for washing dishes, doing laundry, cooking, washing our hands before dinner, and a host of other things.

Unfortunately, here in Uganda, it isn’t always that simple.  Today, for example, our rainwater basin was empty.  That meant no water for drinking.  No water for bathing. No water for cooking, cleaning, washing, or anything else.  Luckily, there is a public well--about a mile from school—and our kids were sent with their little yellow buckets to fill them with water and carry them back to school.  That way, we could have water to cook lunch.

Jerrycans that were recently filled with the well water.

Sound inconvenient?

It is.

But as with most trials we face in life, there is a silver lining.  The beauty in this challenge?  These kids and the humble residents of Uganda have a perspective that is (sadly) foreign to so many Americans these days.  These young people know exactly where their water comes from.  They don’t take this gift for granted.  Instead, they genuinely understand that everything comes from God.  Here in Uganda, even something as ‘simple’ as rain results in prayers of praise and thanksgiving.  And that is exactly what happened today.  Our lunch-time prayers were filled with requests for rain.  Our students approached His throne with confidence and requested that He provide us with rain…and before we could finish eating our lunches, rain began falling from the clouds.  My babies danced around the school, smiling and laughing as they darted through the raindrops and shouting, “God has heard us!  He is answering our prayers!”

I couldn’t help but smile at the joy that was overflowing from their hearts.  And in the moment, several scriptures began to flood my mind:

“…a childlike faith…”

“faith as small as a mustard seed…”

“The prayer of a righteous man…”

“Pray continuously.”

But more than that, I was reminded of God’s faithfulness.  We are His children. He hears our cries to Him and, like any good father does, He finds great joy in seeing that our daily needs are met.

God may have been refilling our water tank today, but He was also filling my love tank and reigniting my desire to know Him more.

This is a short video of the rain...which briefly turned to hail! 

You can see it bouncing into the classroom with force!