This is where the healing begins

"Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." Hebrews 13:15

Have you ever been in a crazy time in your life and looked straight up to the heavens and said, "ENOUGH ALREADY!". I must humbly admit that lately I have been telling God that He is giving me too much. My plate is too full. I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to help care for our two little girls who are very ill, all the while contracting strep throat and mono myself. I have run myself into the ground trying to do whatever needs done because I want to be in control.


I have been learning praise heals brokenness in a way words alone cannot. When we praise through our pain, God supernaturally empowers us to do what seems impossible: rise above our circumstances. Our praise redirects our focus on Him rather than our rejection, and reminds us that God always welcomes us into His presence. 

Praising God is easy when life is full of happiness and success. However, when we're dealing with our weaknesses, praising God can be difficult; it can feel like a sacrifice. It's not necessarily easy to offer a heart of thanks when we feel like we don't have much to be grateful for. However, the writer of Hebrews advises us to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips" (Hebrews 13:15b). Just like fruit is sweet and pleasing to our taste, praise is sweet and pleasing to the Lord.

Praising through the pain (and if I'm honest, sometimes through the self-pity) seems to take strength I don't have to give. But the author of Hebrews 13:15 tells us our ability to praise in hard moments comes through Jesus.

As I tap into His power, my sacrifice of praise will generate more strength to praise, which will generate more praise. It is a beautiful cycle! Praise lifts our eyes from the rejection and sets it on all we have in Jesus: peace, comfort and acceptance.

Would you also join in prayer with me for Lisakaya and Atlehang?
Lisakaya is our beautiful three year old. She came to live with us just over a month ago. She came to us with epilepsy that we have not been able to find the medication to control. She was admitted to the hospital on Thursday of last week because she had five grand mal seizures in one day and that came to a total of twelve in two weeks. Please pray for protection of her brain, heart, and body as this many seizures can damage them. Please pray for peace and rest as this many seizures are extremely exhausting. And please pray for wisdom and discernment for her doctors and us as staff at RHI to know how to best serve this precious little girl.

 And please also pray for Atlehang our wonderful and spunky nine year old. She continues to gain weight and strength through proper nutrition but still remains fatigued and grows tired easily. Pray for her body to be able to fight off any infections and safety over her contracting any infection as she continues to strengthen. She has spoken to several of us about Jesus and is beginning to understand the gospel as her English improves. Please pray that the Lord would soften her heart and and give her hope to accept Him to be her personal Savior.

We will chase the Light

“ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” – 1 Corinthians 1:30

We just had a team of young people from Ohio leave. They put on a four day bible club at our church here for the kids in the community. There were over one hundred children that came and were inplanted with the truth of God’s love. What a blessing it was to see not only my own children at the village singing praises to their Father and memorizing His love letter to them, but also the way their enthusiasm spread to other children. God is good and there is nothing good in me.

I have been studying the book of James. Let me to you, its insight is not an easy pill to swallow. It is one thing, for me, to be back in the comfort of the U.S. and have my friends and family, convenience of good medical care, and anything else I may need at the local store, to look at the verses about persevering under trial. I never looked deeper into James 1 because let’s be honest, my day to day trials went as far as, my blackberry dying. Here in Africa, God has taken me away from those comforts to work with children who have undergone horrendous trials and with others that struggle to live day to day. I do not get much time for social interaction because the need is so great here. But I am finding the blessing in this lesson from God because it draws me closer to Him. He is showing me that as He brings healing and refinement to my heart, all I have to do is continue to work out my salvation. His word is meant not just to penetrate my heart, but activate His holiness in me.  

The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me, not gradually, but instantly, when by faith I enter into the realization that Jesus Christ is made unto me sanctification. The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. It is His patience, His love, His holiness, His faith, His purity, His godliness, that is manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is an implantation not an imitation. Jesus Christ is the perfection of everything, and the mystery of sanctification is that all perfections of Jesus are at my disposal, and slowly and surely I begin to live a life of indescribable order and holiness. “Kept by the power of God.” 

“Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that we manifested in Him, and He manifests in me.” – Oswald Chambers

 

Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe

John 15:14 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

The past couple of weeks have been a holiday break here in South Africa. This means that all fourteen children are here all day. I am sure that other parents can sympathize with me in dealing with keeping them entertained, from fighting with one another, and staying on task with the jobs they still have to do at home. There is no structure, and it shows in their attitudes. Lately, like most children go through, some of our kids are going through a defiant stage. They want to do what they want to do and if they do not get it, well then, they are just going to sit there and do nothing. I can admit to behaving like that a time or two. I do not blame them for acting out in their change of schedule and structure, but what I am learning is that is not an excuse to disobey. It is in this time that they can best learn lessons of obedience, and not “when I want to do it” obedience, but “yes I will do it right now” obedience. And of course, God is teaching me my own lessons in obedience.

When God asks me to do something, He means right now. The fact is, that after He asks me to do something, He begins His work whether I am obedient or not. If at first I am not obedient, then painful and refining measures must be taken to catch up. God is determined to have His child as pure and clean and white as snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of His teaching, He will prevent none of the working of His Spirit. Our insistence in proving that we are right is nearly always an indication that there is disobedience. God’s laws are unalterable; there is no escape from them. The teaching of Jesus goes straight to the way we are made up.

I am thankful for His patience in me. The same patience I run out of with the children at times. Just as I was initially disobedient in agreeing to move to Africa for a year, I still find myself refusing to trust God and obey Him at times, even though, time and again, it proves to be for my betterment. Lord, great is Thy faithfulness unto me.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it

“Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, what you shall put on.” – Matthew 6:25

I just arrived back in Africa after having the greatest gift and opportunity to come back to the United States for my friends’ wedding. The week was crammed full with seeing people. What a joy and a blessing it truly was to spend time with them and to share with them the work God is doing in Africa. Along with all of the pictures shared, many questions were asked, including “are you going to stay in Africa forever?”. Honestly, it is not something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Last week made me a little anxious because I began to worry and let my mind wander about what my future should look like. That is a huge difference between Africa and America. In America I was always preparing for the future and making plans. It is expected to know what you are doing with your life. With the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is so prevalent in Africa, each day is a gift. Also, having thirteen children running around to keep track of does not give one a lot of time to think.

The great thing is, I do not have to take on the pressure of making plans. In fact, worry is doubting the Lover of my soul and the plans that He has already laid out for me. It is not only wrong to worry, it is infidelity, because worrying means that I do not think that God can look after the practical details of my life. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the word He puts in? The devil? No, the cares of this world. It is the little worries that I seem to get so wrapped up on. If I do not trust that which I cannot see, that is where infidelity begins. The only cure for infidelity is obedience to the Spirit. True blind faith.

“The great word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.” – Oswald Chambers

Who's the boss?

“And we all, who with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

Ministry is confusing. You can work and work and work and one day wake up realizing that you have done nothing of importance, nothing eternal. I am learning this lesson here, as one who loves to stay busy and works hard for the approval of others. A lot of days my work becomes my idol. I said this in a previous post, but I am not here in Africa to do work for God. I am here in Africa to do God’s work. So I am left to ponder, what does that truly mean?

I think the term missionary can carry a heavy burden. From a Christian point of view, I feel like there are certain “spiritual” acts that I must carry out. I must memorize the Bible. I must save so many people, or preach the Good News so many times, or even, I have to make sure that the children under my care are saved. But the truth is, that my work begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. He does not need me. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace; my work as His disciple, is to disciple lives until they are wholly yielded to God. God has brought me to a standard of life by His grace, and I am responsible for reproducing that standard in others.

So what then is my responsibility? To fall deeply and madly in love with the One my soul longs for. Not to make a check list to work through, but to know Him so intimately that He is able to complete His work through me. I cannot choose to love God to the degree in which He deserves, but when His Spirit is having His way in me, I live according to His standard without knowing it. The springs of love are in God, not in me. It is not possible to find the love of God in my own heart, it is only there when it has been spread out by the Holy Spirit. If I try to prove how much I love Him, it is a sure sign that I do not love Him. It must come naturally carrying a little bit of spontaneity.

“The life of God manifests itself in this spontaneous way because the springs of love are in the Holy Ghost. (Rom. 5:5).” – Oswald Chambers 

This is Africa

“It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us.” – Romans 8:34

I have learned many expressions in the short time I have been here in Africa. One of the most commonly used phrases I hear from the missionaries, “This is Africa”, loosely meaning that people come and go pretty much as they please and do pretty much what they want. People walk down the middle of the street, they park down the middle of the aisle in a parking lot, and businesses are closed on the Monday after Easter because yesterday was a holiday. But I do not think I fully comprehended the meaning of this phrase until yesterday, Easter Sunday as we were singing “O come let us adore Him” in church. I remember just looking at Amber and smiling because “hey, this is Africa”. But that got me to thinking, do I full comprehend the apathetic mindset that causes people here to do whatever they please and not care about the welfare of others?

One of the great things, for a person who does not have a clue what to do with free time, is that in ministry there is always work to be done. Important work that betters the ministry. But this weekend, I realized something as I was busy being busy. I had the opportunity to house mother for seven children under the age of eleven. Each day there is a checklist of things they must do including bathing, chores, and school work. All of these very important structure for the children. I found myself getting caught up in making sure all the work was done instead of the well being of the child. I did not take the time to listen to what God had to tell me about these children or how I should respond in each situation with discernment, love, and understanding until one night the three oldest came to me and asked to pray with me. I asked them what they wanted to pray about and they shared concerns over their house parent’s safety, their relationships with their siblings, Uncle Brian who had not been feeling well that day, and even me. How great is Thy faithfulness to teach me so much through these beautiful children.

I am not here in Africa to do work for God. I am here in Africa to do God’s work. If I busy myself with the daily checklist, I will miss out on the opportunity to reach out, intercede, and show someone else His love. So it is now that I desire to get into such a living relationship with God that my relationship to others may be maintained on the line of intercession where God can work His marvels. And to know God so intimately that I feel His prompting in every situation and act with His discernment. But most importantly, to never lose sight of the people He has laid on my heart and show them His love above all else.

“A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to Our Lord.” – Oswald Chambers