Life is becoming very real and normal here. I am savoring every moment because days are flying by like birds in air, and it frightens me. I want the real and the nitty gritty Uganda, and I feel like I am finally getting it. Real life is happening. Im being confronted by the good and profound still, but also the crap and the difficulty of life too.The honeymoon phase has past, and things that were cute (like kids calling my munu on the st every second of every day, are now the usual, and maybe even annoying sometimes ha). Relationships have developed and I am seeing things as they truly are, situations, people, places. The good and bad. I still feel giddiness in the mornings to get up and start my day, but its more rooted and grounded in reality. All I know to be true of this is......it is good....
So good. My romanticist mind is not coating everything I see with beauty and idealism like it tends to. Im truly seeing.
This week will begin a new chapter of life here. I am moving in to Atin Afrika! I will be living with the kids...so happy and excited. The 18 boys I was with for the last 5 months have all now been resettled back into their homes and are starting school this wk. I have picked up 2 to sponsor and just put the last one in school yesterday. I love these two, James and Brian so so much. They have very unique and sweet spirits. So, there is a new bunch from the street arriving now. Its hard to imagine doing everything over again with a whole new group of kids I have never met....but I trust God to give me the strength and joy to do it. On Monday, I will also begin an internship there, doing work in their education program and also organizing media. This will be done alongside what a favor most, which is teaching, building relationship, and sharing the goodness of Christ with them. I have learned, living on the street is straight poison for any child. For those that have been there for a year or more, street life destroys innocence, hardens childlikeness, and steals happiness. Their like lost wandering sheep, running around, consumed by their passions. Ive seen it up close now, right in front of my face.....and it makes me SOOO angry at the devil. Most of all, street life corrupts their idea of love. Love is something many of them don't know how to show, or even receive. They don't know how to care or be cared for. So, love in Christ, unconditional love, the no matter-whatness of Gods love, is what they need most. This writer captures it perfectly. "Sometimes its necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness".
Continuing to meet with two women, Lucy and Rhema who know Jesus now. Please pray for them with me. Battling a lot of religiosity with both of them.
Please pray that I have JOY. I want joy and need joy to radiate through me to these kids. Also, that I do not over commit my self to things, which I seem to do often ;/ Lastly, for open doors to speak into specific kid's lives and hearts.
Love you all, thank you for reading, i need your care and interest in these days
crazy thing I did this past wk: Went to a village called Amolataar to resettle a child in his home. We were on the motorcycle for 2 and a half hours there and also 2 and half back. Mind you, the road was incredibly potholey and it rained half the way back...ah it was crazy!!! Mom, don't worry I had a helmet on, and Ronald is a very skilled driver :)
If you would like to get involved through sponsorship or donation, email me
love, G
My boys from last term
One of the boys, Darius, getting baptized :)
Rhema
Lucy
Hi Gracie!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog. Be encouraged lady.
I keep seeing you, tiny in my mind, eyes wide-open and looking straight upward; and all of the sudden a hand reaches down and drops four-ish berry-like things into your mouth. And then, God comes down face to face with you and begins patting your forehead with oil.
I feel like as you're asking God for His strategies for the kids, orphanage, country, He is beginning to give you His sight and specific truths that actually release power (Grace for transformation) as you agree with them, speaking them out.
As you receive His words and His understanding (the Good News) of the situation, you are also receiving His joy over it. His joy that defeats despair. He is anointing you with the oil of gladness, in exchange for the desperation of the current situation at the forefront of your mind and sight. This joy and His truths are weapons in which He has given you to wage war.
I think as you ask about specific things, keep a journal close by, note anything that seems to be highlighted (you may hear a word, see a picture, feel like a Scripture is highlighted). Continue asking questions if you want until you feel like you have some good revelation, then is time to pray what you hear. Jesus only did/said what He saw the Father do/say (John 5:19, John 8:26-28)...This is a great tool to break through things, too, because the power is in what the Father is SAYING. And ultimately if we're doing something WITH God, it's powerful; because God is powerful and able to do anything.
The most important thing is your intimacy with Him! :) His love will always show through you when you are resting in Him. He loves you and He loves them. sooooo much. Receive that love and abide in it first and foremost. That resting place will be the most effective place of ministry. Bless you with refreshment from His presence and the ability to recline at His table knowing you have been raised up by Him and that is how all others will be raised up too (John 12:2).
This is what I've been learning and it's really helped me. Hope it helps!
Blessings on the rest of your trip.
Praying with you!
Love you!
Christine
"He who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone..." John 8:29