A Little Reassurance.....

I've been getting a little more anxious about our trip to Africa lately. We leave in just over 2 weeks!! We have been so busy, and it seems like there's still a ton to do before we go. And then I start to wonder.....will we really be helping anyone? Will we really be making a difference in someone's life? What exactly lies ahead of us? Will we be able to tolerate the extreme heat, biting flies, and malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Gambella? But then God reminds me that He is in control. He's got this. And He called us there. I'm sure His purpose is even greater than we can imagine. And we are excited to see what's in store for us. We have come to love Ethiopia and the people there, and I am thrilled to be able to learn more about my boys' culture. 

So, in the middle of my thoughts and worries, I took an evening walk with some of the kids the other night. We had walked about 1/2 mile, when Malia pointed out, "Look Mom! There's an Africa!" And sure enough, there on the road was a spot in the shape of Africa. It wasn't a water puddle; it hadn't rained here in awhile. An oil spot maybe? I don't know, but I took it as a little assurance from God that He's got the whole world in His hands. And He's big enough to place a little bit of Africa on a lonely stretch of road in Northwestern Ohio just because He knows that a mommy will walk that way and need a reminder of His love for her. My God is awesome like that.

And here is Jordan, placing his hand over his birth country:

I have also been so touched by Ann Voskamp's (aholyexperience.com) words this week, as she is visiting Uganda:

"I am sitting in Uganda and all I can hear pounding in my head is Mordecai’s message to Esther:

“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all your people suffer. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief will arise from some other place, but you and yours will die.” There are a thousand ways for your soul to die, to be the living dead.

You can look into eyes and hear the whisper from those outside the gate:

“You’ve got to use the life you’ve been given to give others life. If your life isn’t about giving relief — you don’t get real life. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?”

You have got to use your position inside the gate for those outside the gate – or you’re in the position of losing everything. There are a thousand ways to be the living dead.

If you have any food in your fridge, any clothes in your closet, any small roof, rented or owned, over your head, you are richer than 75% of the rest of the world. We are the Esthers living inside the palace.

If you have anything saved in the bank, any bills in your wallet, any spare change in a jar, you are one of the top 8% wealthiest people in the world. We are the Esther’s living inside the gate.

If you can read these words right now, you have a gift 3 billion people right now don’t, if your stomach isn’t twisted in hunger pangs, you have a gift that 1 billion people right now don’t, if you know Christ, you have a gift that untold millions right now don’t. We are the ones living inside the gate.

It’s like you can hear the cry of the red soil of Africa’s pulsing right here with the heart of God: “You have got to use your position inside the gate for those outside the gate – or you’re in the position of losing everything — of losing your soul.“

You are where you are for such a time as this – not to gain anything — but to risk everything.

You are where you are for such a time as this — not to make an impression — but to make a difference.

You could have been the one outside of the gate. You could have been the one with the Lord’s Resistance Army slitting your child’s throat in the middle of the night, you could been the one born into a slum, raped without a hope, you could be the one born into AIDS, into starvation, into lives of wild Christ-less desperation. The reason you are inside the gate for such a time as this – is to risk your life for those outside the gate. If I perish, I perish."

And Ann's Letter to the North American Church? Wow. So convicting. My deepest desire is that I'll be able to lay myself aside and love like that on our trip to Africa. Please pray that we can be a true picture of Jesus' hands and feet. Thank you!