Don't take it for granted!

Sweet Karia, and her mom Beatrice are so dear to me. Beatrice works in our house and is a Godsend for us. Her daughter, Karia, is 3 years old, and so precious. Last weekend, on Thanksgiving, this sweet little girl's life was changed forever. Because of the generosity of YOU who have given to me, we were able to give this little one a life-changing surgery to correct bones in her legs, for a fraction of the cost it would have been in the United States. The surgery was successful at a private hospital in Gikondo, and on Monday she was fitted for some special "Forrest-Gump-like" shoes that will allow her to walk this next year. :) It's our hope and prayer that in time, she will be walking without the shoes!

 

It's something many of us take for granted. We obviously don't remember when we took our first steps. For most of us, it's something we don't even think about. But I know there are some of us who have endured illness and pain, and truly know the great gift it is to put one foot in front of the other one and move! May we all never take this great, yet simple gift for granted....or any gift from God who is so good and has blessed us so abundantly!

 

prayers of thanksgiving and peace

I hope all of you are enjoying a weekend of thanksgiving with loved ones! I missed being at home with family, but I spent a great Thanksgiving with my "family" here. We had school for half a day on Thursday, and then I feasted with many others at our preacher's house. It was a blessing to share a Thanksgiving meal with Americans, Rwandans, Ugandans, South Africans, and many other friends who had never experienced a Thanksgiving meal before! Everyone enjoyed the pumpkin pies, the Rwandan yam casserole, and even some "Southern" sweet tea! I wish I had pictures to share, but of course I forgot my camera.

There are just too many things I'm thankful for this year that I can't even begin to list them all.....but during this week, God has reminded me in His special way of all the things I have to be thankful for.

As I planned a short getaway at Lake Kivu in the northern province earlier this week, I anticipated a night of rest and peace by the lakeside, overlooking the volcanoes of the Congo just 5 minutes away. It's rare we have a day of school, and when we do, I like to enjoy the beauty of this spectacular country! But on Wednesday, the US Embassy held an emergency meeting and informed us that all travel to northern province was immediately restricted due to the M23 rebels in Congo actively fighting with the army, and gearing up to take over the border town of Goma in DRC. I visited Goma in 2010 when we climbed Mt. Nyiragongo, and couldn't imagine that now, the beautiful people of this town were enthroned in yet another war. There has been limited rebel activity in recent years in the DRC, but the last fighting was seen in 2003. Until now.

You can read more about the conflict in Congo here at CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/24/world/africa/congo-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

or here on BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20476677

It's easy to read about conflicts on the news...and feel so far away from them, and not know what or how to pray for them. But when it's in your backyard, it feels very different. While I am not in danger at all, and I have every reason to thank God for placing me in this peaceful country of Rwanda and away from harm...I know of others who are not as fortunate right now. We spent Thanksgiving lunch with missionaries and aid workers from DRC who fled the country to Kigali this week, and came with stories of chaos and unrest.

With conflicts brewing in Israel/Palestine, in Cairo, and DRC Congo, I can be thankful I am not there, but instead in Rwanda where peace is so present. But at the same time I feel so convicted to intercede for those in these conflicts. Prayer is such a POWERFUL weapon, and I think I'm just beginning to understand the wonderful mystery of it. I confess I don't pray often enough, and I'm learning every day what it means to be in continual prayer and continual conversation with my Creator, my Lord, my Daddy. :) I'm so thankful for His abounding Grace I soak up new each morning! He is Grace! He is Peace!

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

We are called to pray continually....wow! And give thanks in ALL circumstances! This verse is humbling to me, and a convicting call to action at the same time. Do I really give thanks in ALL circumstances? When I'm sick, when I'm lonely, when my students are driving me nuts, when I'm so exhausted I can't look at this computer screen any longer! Is my first reponse to thank God? Oh, the things He is teaching me! Every morning we wake up there is a world to thank Him for! Each new breath and moment of life! Each glass of clean water to drink, each smile we give and receive each day. All are opportunites to give thanks!   I just really feel like I have been given such a gift to live here in peace and comfort, and how will I respond to that gift? I ask myself this question a lot, and I want to listen to His voice calling, and be obedient each day.

Lately, I've been very convicted to continually pray for those who are less fortunate, pray for the weak, the widows, the orphans, those who are fleeing their homes right now and trekking across borders, those without clean water, food, shelter. What does it mean to continually pray? Maybe it means to talk to God with Him throughout our day. Maybe it means to be aware and open to all the opportunities he presents us with. Perhaps being in continual prayer means to continually be awakened to people and situations He brings to our hearts and our minds and lift them up in His name! Maybe it means to live a life where we love, give, and serve others before ourselves. Where we pray for a person right then and now, and not just safely and casually say, "I'm praying for you!" But do it then. Perhaps being in continual prayer means living our daily lives in response to God's call for us. How do we live out the gospel in our own neighborhoods? Be it in Kannapolis, DRC-Congo, Alaska, or Kigali? Maybe continual prayer doesn't just mean having the longest and quietest "quiet" times with God each morning over fresh coffee, but our prayer could mean what we do each day and how we respond to what God brings us each day.

Maybe I cannot meet all the physical needs of those in need, or go to the DRC-Congo right now or go to Palestine and give of my time and resources, but we can all pray and be awake to what He is calling us to do in our own neighborhoods. And we can all be intercessors and watchmen over these countries. I can also recognize that the things I take for granted so often....clean water, 3 or more meals a day, a warm bed, etc....these are things that many only hope for. Even in my community there are those in need of these simple items. I don't even have to look towards the conflict in the DRC. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I feel like God has challenged me to not just think about it, or dwell on these situations, or read all the CNN artitcles, but instead to fervently be an intercessor for these people. He is a BIG God and He answers all of our prayers! Prayer changes things!

Will you join and pray with me for these countries in conflict this week? And join with prayers of thanksgiving to Him that we are able to live in a peaceful nation where we aren't persecuted for our faith, ethnicity, or gender. We have so many blessings to count!

Gather me...

 

 

Oh God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me.

 

Soothe my tiredness;
quiet my fretfulness;
curb my aimlessness;
relieve my complusiveness;
let me be easy for a moment.

 

O Lord, release me
from the fears and guilts which grip me so tightly;
from the expectations and opinions which I so tightly grip,
that I may be open
to receiving what you give,
to risking something genuinely new,
to learning something refreshingly different.

 

Forgive me
for claiming so much for myself
that I leave no room for gratitude;
for confusing exercises in self-importance
with acceptance of self-worth;
for complaining so much of my burdens
that I become a burden;
for competing against others so insidiously
that I stifle celebrating them
and receiving your blessing through their gifts.

 

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

 

Amen.

 

from Ted Loder, Guerillas of Grace

Community is rich!

 I live a rich life! I am so aware of this every time I wake up, and God has given me yet another day to live and to work and to be with this wonderful, diverse community in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. There is such a richness in diversity here that I adore. I know God delights in our differences because He created us so unique, each one of us! And we all make up the body of Christ!

Even when I crave solitude and need it desperately to be refreshed and restored, I'm thankful for a community that understands those needs. :) I guess this is my apology for not having blogged for so long too! :) I've realized that I've unintentionally let the world's chaos and busyness come find me here in Africa too! But now I'm intentionally trying (with a ton of grace) to be quiet right now...quiet inside..and to do more listening.  For no other reason, except I feel like I need to be quiet and LISTEN right now...time to find a quiet space.  (This was supposed to be a blog about community, but somehow solitude is a theme here as well! Ha! Anyhow, I'm so thankful for my communities near and far where I can rest and be filled!) 

The view at sunset from my neighborhood hill! I sometimes linger along this ridge after an evening run...breathtaking!

I love these sweet boys!

 

I love looking out at my students and seeing different faces and unique glimmers of Christ in each of them. There’s Inge from Portugal , Ineza from Rwanda, Christian from Hawaii, Gitau from Kenya, Haba from Uganda… ..and each face uniquely shines the light of Christ!

 

Walking home from school in the afternoons, I hear the traditional Rwandan drums echoing from our church, and I stop to listen and appreciate the dancers and drummers practicing for an upcoming dowry ceremony. 

Then it’s time for Fitness Club with my gorgeous array of young ladies, representing multi-faiths and nationalities. I love seeing them dance, run, and sweat, as we all use our bodies to honor and glorify God, and pray for each other as a family.

 

Afterwards, I run down the dirt path overlooking the green, lush Rwandan hills to Kagugu village to teach Kang-Hee. I enter and take off my shoes, and slip on the traditional Korean sandals, and I’m welcomed for tea and Korean soup as we sit on the floor mat and begin his studies.

Finally, I’m home to greet Beatrice, our lovely house helper, who tries so tirelessly to teach me Kinyarwanda, and we break out the French/English dictionary so we can communicate with each other and I can try to learn Kinyarwanda!  Three languages just to learn one! J  These are just a few of the ways each day I am so blessed by living here in such a diverse community of friends and fellow lovers of Jesus. I love that here I can experience so many different cultures and communities just by interacting with my neighbors. Christ is Lord over all of us. No matter where in this world we live, or what our skin looks like. He made us all so unique, yet made for each other! Made for community and relationships! We are created to worship and live and do life together. All of us. It’s really just a small world after all…

 

 

"There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace and ultimately no life without community." ~Brennan Manning

'We are superstars'

Check out this front page CNN story of the Rwandan volleyball team at the London Paralympic Games! It's awesome!

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/31/sport/london-2012-paralympics-rwanda-volleyball/index.html?hpt=hp_c1#

do less, but accomplish more

Demonstrate your Trust in Me by sitting quietly in My Presence. Put aside all that is waiting to be done, and refuse to worry about anything. This sacred time together strengthens you and prepares you to face whatever the day will bring. By waiting with Me before you begin the day's activities, you proclaim the reality of My living Presence. This act of faith--waiting before working--is noted in the spirit world, where your demonstration of trust weakens principalities and powers of darkness.

The most effective way to resist evil is to draw near Me. When you need to take action, I will guide you clearly through My Spirit and My Word. The world is so complex and overstimulating that you can easily lose your sense of direction. Doing countless unnecessary activities will dissipate your energy. When you spend time with Me, I restore your sense of direction. As you look to Me for guidance, I enable you to do less but accomplish more.

from Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

Here I am, where I ought to be

"I had a farm in Africa…the equator runs across these highlands, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.

The geographical position, and the height of the land combined to create a landscape that had not its like in all the world. There was no fat on it and no luxuriance anywhere; it was Africa distilled up through six thousand feet, like the strong and refined essence of a continent. The colors were dry and burnt, like the colors in pottery….The views were immensely wide. Everything that you saw made for greatness and freedom, and unequalled nobility.

The chief feature of the landscape, and of your life in it, was the air. Looking back on a sojourn in the African highlands, you are struck by your feeling of having lived for a time up in the air. The sky was rarely more than pale blue or violet, with a profusion of mighty, weightless, every-changing clouds towering up and sailing on it, but it has a blue vigor in it, and at a short distance it painted the ranges of hills and the woods a fresh deep blue. In the middle of the day the air was alive over the land, like a flame burning…

Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be."

From the opening pages of Karen Blixen's Out of Africa.