Riches of Our Glorious King (Closing Thoughts From Africa)

Africa is where some of God's most precious treasure is. It is where some of His fingerprints can be seen most clearly. It is where the most obvious pieces of His heart are visible to those who are looking for Him. He is seen in the faces of people, in the smiles of children, in the sunsets at exactly 6:45pm and in the farms that grow by His grace. 

When I think back over my summer, the people who made the deepest impression on me were not the ones deemed most powerful or influential by society (though we were blessed by them too) but children we formed relationships with. I have been deeply humbled by the kids that I met.

These children have taught me so much about the way that Jesus loves. For when I was a stranger, they invited me into their village and played with me. When I did not speak their language, they patiently answered the questions I presented in broken Gonja. When I was dirty, they took the little water they had and washed my hands and feet. When they didn’t even know my name, they led me by the hand to their circle of friends. When they saw scrapes on my arm they pat them sympathetically, even though the gashes in their legs are far worse than mine. If my clothes are dusty they quickly brush the dirt off for me, even though most of them aren’t even wearing anything. If they are sitting on a bench they will sit on the dirt and ask me to take their seat. If they see me biking, they will bike with me for miles just to be near me. 

These children have challenged my heart in a far deeper way than I ever thought possible.

For they are far better at being like Jesus than I am.

I have nothing to offer them, no reason why they should associate with me, yet they love me with a love that chases our van down the dirt road just so that they can hold my hand a few second longer through the window.

Because of these little friends who shared the gloriousness of Jesus' love with me, I have returned to America far richer than when I left. And as much as I would like to go back and continue to celebrate the deep love of our King with them, I know that the influence of these children was created to reach far more people than just me, those in their village, or even in Africa. Following Christ's pattern, they have shared this blessing with me so that I may bless others in the same way. As they lavished Jesus' love on me, so we are to pour out His unrelentless, unbridled, unashamed love onto all we come into contact with regardless of anything that tells us otherwise.

What kind of a King is outside of every social prejudice, every country and has placed His fingerprints all around the world? What kind of a King would place the most beautiful parts of Himself in the seemingly smallest and weakest? A simply glorious King. A King whose glory transcends all understanding.

"This is my commandment: love each other as I have loved you. The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command…This is my command: Love each other…." ~ John 15:12, 17

"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such children in my name welcomes me…See to it that you do not despise any of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven". ~Matthew 18: 1-5, 10

A Bride for Christ

Jesus' fingerprints are all over this culture. I see Jesus every day in the faces of the smiling children who come up to me, in the tiny plants in our garden that are barely peeking up from the ground, in the excitement of adults when they ask if they can come to church and in the villages where they offer us refreshments of python and yams "to give us energy" for helping them with their garden. I feel excited when I pray for Ghana because I know that she is a Bride long awaited by the King of Kings. The weekend before I left for Africa I was a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding. Before the ceremony all the bridesmaids thanked God for our friendship with her and for bringing her and her husband to this beautiful moment where they would enter into a covenant with each other. This was the most important part of "getting ready" that day that we could have possibly helped with. A missionary's job is this same kind of preparation; spiritually helping the Bride prepare for the moment when she walks down the aisle. I have heard countless times how everyone's favorite part of a wedding is seeing the groom's face when his bride walking toward Him. I cannot imagine Jesus' face and the joy in His smile when the Gonja people are presented to Him. I have seen many beautiful things in Africa from the gorgeous sunsets every evening to the faces of children every morning. But there are a few moments that stick out to me more than others. One of them was last Saturday when four people came over to be baptized. One of them had been undergoing a discipleship program with the missionaries we are staying with.  He left all indications of his old life behind (he was a witch doctor) and I know that all of heaven applauded as he was baptized in the pond behind our house. There is so much of God's work going on here and I feel so humbled  watching all that God is doing. I know I am not doing anything beyond what God has called every person to do; I am not doing something in Ghana that could only be done by me. I do not have a special revelation that God has not given others; I am completely replaceable in every way. But it is this understanding that makes me so grateful that despite these facts, I am able to have the privilege of joining in this preparation for the Bridegroom's return.

Ruined for Comfort

“I was forever ruined for comfort and convenience, and luxury, preferring instead challenge, sacrifice, and risking everything to do something I believed in” – “Kisses from Katie” by Katie Davis

This quote sums up the way God is using Africa to change my team. When I arrived in Ghana, I was mentally prepared for all the things that I would see and from the moment I stepped off the plane there has not been anything that has greatly surprised me about the African culture. The severe poverty that surrounds us matches up to the metal pictures that I had created in my head from books and previous exposure to Africa. But this doesn’t make these realities any more difficult to see. It also doesn’t change the fact that these things are wrong and a terrible result of sin. In my head I have always known about unreached people groups and the destitute lifestyles that people around the world live in. But the reality of the unreached has been more difficult because now, instead of having blind statistics and detached percentages, the unreached have faces and names. I know their stories and know them.

It’s frustrating to see this poverty.  More than all the huts I wish I could repair, the cuts I wish I could clean, the sickness I want healed and the children I wish I could clothe, I know that these are only symptoms of the true problem. But when all these material things are so obvious it is hard for me to remember that spiritual poverty is actually a much greater priority than the other urgent needs that seem so pressing.

Last Saturday I sat on the back porch holding a four month old baby in my lap for over an hour. This little boy didn’t cry much, not because I was good with kids, but because he was too weak from sickness and malnourishment to cry. As I cradled his little hand in mine, I prayed such big prayers for this future leader. I prayed that God would make him strong and that he would plant churches and be an example in his people group. I prayed that God would protect him and that this child would have the gift of knowing Jesus at a young age. And as I prayed for this little one, my heart began to split for the material things I wish that I could give him.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more”. – Luke 13:48

I don’t think I will ever understand why I was placed in Christian home and my African friends were not. But I know that I have been richly blessed with the best kind of wealth. As difficult as it is to see them physically suffering, I know that my prayers for them must be that they will experience the kind of spiritual fullness that comes from being totally abandoned to Christ,  rather than that they will have material wealth. It is my job, and every person’s job, who has been blessed with this gift to do everything possible to make sure that this prayer, which was not mine but Jesus’, is answered. 

All or Nothing…

My speech teacher once told me that your speech doesn't begin the moment you open your mouth. Rather, it begins the moment people see you. It is not talking that makes you a public speaker but everything that goes into speaking - your preparation, attitude, appearance.... it is the combination of these that create the identity of a speaker. On the plane ride to Ghana, the Holy Spirit was reminding me that being a missionary is similar. I did not suddenly become a missionary when I stepped off the plane into Africa or when I sent out letters for fundraising or join Team Expansion. I became a missionary the moment that I decided to follow Jesus,  just as you and everyone else did who made that commitment. My time in Ghana is an extension of this love story with Jesus. I have not come here to fulfill a title of missionary but to share about this incredible love that He has loved both you and I with. I have been reminded this week of the "all or nothing" personality of the Gospel. Luke 14:33 says, "so then, none of you can be my disciples  who does not give up his own possessions".  Jesus does not say ' some' of your possessions but All of them.  Jesus doesn't say this so we enter Christianity with a sober mentality but because He wants from the bottom of His heart to bless us with all that He can. We eliminate ourselves from the blessings we could receive when we do not adopt the complete lifestyle of Christ and choose to live only partially dedicated to God's agenda.

                One thing I love the best about the members of my team is our "go big or go home" motto. Last night Terry (the missionary we are living with) asked us to experiment with a juicer they had never used but wanted to learn how to.  After much experimenting we end up juicing 3 bags of mangos into mango ice cream rather than making the simple cup of juice we had been assigned.  It took a whole afternoon but the result was well worth it! Although it feels like we are a bit extreme at times, I wouldn't have it any other way because I know the heart behind each task is to give everything - even the  little things, like mangos - our absolute all.

                Pray for us, reader, that we would not miss out on anything that God has this summer but that we take everything in deeply and experience a lifestyle of full abandonment. 

Almost There: Last Blog Post Before Ghana!

On Sunday Josh drove with me to Louisville and helped me get settled into my room for my week of internship training with Team Expansion. We enjoyed the three and a half hour car ride there and the exploring time we had between our arrival and when I needed to check in. The house I was staying in was a little way from Team Expansion's headquarters and we ended up holding on to my suitcase and backpack with our legs as we went backwards down the bumpy road on a golf-cart. It was a shallow but friendly reminder of the tuk-tuk rides we used to have in Thailand. 

Training was very different than I expected but in a very good way! I thought that most of our training would revolve around classroom-style learning but we spent a significant amount of time outside and interacting with each other. The longest team-building activity we did actually took place on a log. Our instructors brought us to a clearing and then told all of us to stand on a long (and very skinny) piece of wood so they could tell us what to do. As soon as we were all standing in line, they explained that all 19 of us needed to re-arrange ourselves from the tallest to the shortest. Every time someone fell/stepped off the log, we had to start over again. It took us a while to figure out how to "pass" people down the log but an hour and a half later, we finally accomplished this task. This was definitely an interesting experience for me, as I was one of the shortest and after an hour and a half of grabbing onto teammates to move to the end of the log, I realized that 3/4 of the sweat I had on my shirt was not my own. Talk about bonding with your teammates!

Ghana Team: Josh, me, Lindsey and Jesse 

My team for this summer is absolutely amazing. God has blessed me with a wonderful group of people who are also desiring to do some kind of mission work long-term. I loved getting to know my teammates more last week and even though half of us just met for the first time during training, it already feels like we have known each other so much longer. We are all so excited to go to Africa and started practicing our soccer skills in preparation for our work with the youth in the villages! 

Pray for us as we enter into Ghana with a learner's heart to know more about this group of people that God dearly loves! 

A Fully Funded Mustard Seed

My family has lived off of financial support from individuals and churches ever since I was born. I have seen God provide for my family countless times, especially with our most recent financial needs for our adoption.

Despite having this background in trusting God for money, raising funds for my own mission work seemed quite daunting to me.

No longer was I doing mission work under the shelter of my family's finances or their fundraising. This time it was up to me to be the one with the faith that was necessary to move the mountain of dollar bills that added up to $5,000.

It wasn't that hard at first. I prayed over every envelope that I mailed out asking for support and diligently began my fundraising almost immediately after finding out that I was accepted into the Pathways Internship.  I didn't even break a sweat when the first financial deadline of $2,000 came and went. I wrote thank-you notes and praised God and continued to pray, knowing God would be faithful.

Months later I still knew He would be faithful. But the physical evidence of this depleted greatly during April and May. This seemed a great problem to me as the financial deadline was fast approaching and in less than two months I still had close to $2,000 to raise. My first car cost close to $2,000, how was that hurdle going to be overcome in only six weeks?

I prayed. I listened. God said He had something to teach me that was far greater than the lesson I would learn looking at a sum total of $5,000 without batting an eyelash.

I've heard stories about God providing mass sums of money in ridiculously short amounts of time. Logically, this wasn't that much to ask right?

But the glamorous stories of God's miraculous provision seemed far away from my dorm room in Joplin, Missouri, as I swung my legs back and forth on my bed, gazing heavenward and trying to look as angelic as possible as I asked God for the remaining amount. The weeks crept by and I felt more desperate. It wasn't that I thought God couldn't do it but I thought perhaps He wouldn't. Maybe He thought I needed more time with Him in America before venturing overseas. I asked God to help my heart be in the right place; I wanted to be in whatever country would help me learn more about Him. I didn't know what was best but that was okay because God did.

I continued praying and at one point realized that my prayers had changed from requests to something more along the lines of pleading. Why am I begging God to answer my prayers when this need, so big to me, is so small compared to what God COULD do? This realization led to a very uncomfortable moment with the Lord.

"Ask Me for more than $5,000", He said.

Obviously this suggestion was not coming from human reasoning so the only option was to obey. I fasted and prayed, asking for more than what I needed. I praised in advance, even thanking God in my journal for providing what I already needed.

Financial supporters appeared to be coming through the woodwork. People that I hadn't even met sent emails responding to my needs and I was truly blessed by each individual who gave.

Despite this encouragement, I ended up sitting on my couch the night before the final deadline for my internship still with a little over $300 to go. I did believe that God could do it. But my palms were still a little sweaty. I had no doubt by this point that God wanted me in Africa and I would be there this summer. But my prayers wavered a little. I kept reminding myself that God already had the money ready for my internship, I simply did not know where or how it was going to show up (who needs details, right?). I thanked God that to move a financial mountain all that I needed was faith the size of a mustard seed. Because, unfortunately, I felt I wasn't bringing much more than that into His throne room that night.

And then...He did it! And yes, it was even more than $5,000.

You guessed how my story ends not because God is predictable but because He is faithful. Would He have been faithful if the money hadn't come through? Yes. Because He is faithful in doing whatever would bring me closer to Him not faithful in giving me whatever I ask for. I have no doubt that God would have done whatever would have helped me learn more about Him. For this summer, He says that I will learn most about Him in Africa and playing with His beautiful children in the dusty streets of Tamale.

God has given me more than what I need because He wants all of us to know that He is not only capable of doing more than we ask or expect but He wants to do more than we ask or expect.

And how does He do more? Through you! Through your prayers and donations, each of you have not just contributed to my summer plans but you have fulfilled many prayers of those who have been praying for God's work in Ghana and His work in my life.

Even if you have just prayed for me once, thank you. I am honored to go to Ghana with so many supporters of sending the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I can tell my new friends in Africa about the love of Jesus that would compel so many of you to dig into your bank accounts.

But your support does not stop here! Each of you have helped me become fully funded and my mustard seed size of faith to grow. Now as I start this new adventure, I need your prayers and encouragement more than ever now.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen". - Ephesians 3:20-21

Remember the Vision

It is the sixth week of school. Papers are piling up almost "as high as Mount Everest", as we Ozark Christian College students say. :) In the midst of tests, reading assignment, projects and fundraising for my internship, I remembered this quote I had written down some time ago. This is especially for those who are weary and need to be reminded of the vision we are working for. 

"Those who catch the vision are ready to follow the Lamb wherever He leads, and as they follow, in the spirit of joyful adventure, their path becomes clear before them and they are given power to fulfill their high calling, They are those who have courage to break through conventionalities, who care not at all what the world thinks of them, because they are entirely taken up with the tremendous reality of Christ."

Let us remember the first time we caught "the vision". How excited we were to give up everything to God, our First Love. The vision is still what we are called to. God is not concerned with good grades or finishing everything on our to-do lists. We are called to simply love Jesus and follow the Lamb. We can do that regardless of how many papers we have, the lists that lay unaccomplished and the amounts of sleep that we get. Jesus has led us here; take a moment to remember the tremendous reality of who we are loving and serving. Let us continue not because we have to, but because we choose to continue because we love Him who loved us first. 

Take heart dear reader; lift up your chin and press forward! God "gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (Isaiah 40:29). 

Smiling at the Unknown

I am a worrier. Though it is silly, whenever break begins winding down, I find a bit of dread tugging at my heart when I think of moving back to Missouri and dealing with the changes and challenges that each new semester brings. It's hard not to let my mind dwell on missing my family, friends that have moved or dropped out of school between semester and the familiar surroundings of home. It's hard not to rationalize my pity parties and allow my mind to fixate on the negative. 

This is the pattern of the world; worry and dread. This is "normal". But it is not the pattern of our King. 

I can learn from Paul's life, as he shares how he has "learned to be content in whatever circumstance" (Philippians 4:11). God has already given us everything we need to not only face new seasons but to do so with smiles on our faces. He has empowered us to speak with confidence that we may echo Paul's words, "I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4, 11-13). 

When Paul says "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" he speaks in full confidence that because Christ is the Author of his life, no matter what the next day, week, month or year brings, he can be completely assured that God has enabled him to greet each new season gracefully and joyfully. 

It is now 2014. Let us greet the changes that the new year brings with joy, for we can trust that our King"is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think" ~ Ephesians 3:20.