Following the Nationals' Lead

 "In development work, those who come 

with all the answers rarely have anything to offer."

-Missionary training at ECHO

I have been really happy as the events unfolded in West Africa this week by how many Stateside friends contacted us checking on our whereabouts and asking how to serve the people there. Your cultural humility and love for your brothers and sisters has been another piece of these beautiful front row seats.

This is a developing situation. There are a lot of unknowns. 

As such, we are looking to the nationals for how to move forward. 

Our little church in a remote part of the country held a prayer meeting tonight. The best thing you can do right now is join them in the prayers they are praying for themselves:

*For the military to bring more integrity to the country

*For Western governments to understand the country knows what they are doing and knows what they need

*For the internally displaced people to be able to return home

Thank you, friend.

A Prayer Meeting

"I don't believe it."

These were my exact words to God. I had arrived at a prayer meeting with a little child in our Host Families on my heart. Whatever verse the prayer leader turned to would be my prayer for this child. But when the chosen verse was Psalm 23, I flat out didn't believe it was applicable, and I told God so.

"The Lord is his shepherd, he lacks nothing."
Psalm 23:1

"This can't be it, Lord," I prayed. "I am literally here because of all the things this boy lacks. He lacks a forever family, he lacks a confident future, he lacks the full possibilities of medical care. He lacks, he lacks, he lacks......What kind of verse is this? A verse for a king, maybe, but not a little one from poverty and hardship."

Just like He promised, the Lord was slow to anger at my disbelief and abounding in love toward his forlorn child. He patiently led me into my struggles of that verse for that child. I wrestled with the present tense, I struggled with the poverty, I witnessed the Spirit's leading through his people. 

He reminded me of a time in our adoption of Daniel in which the paperwork had all been completed and the court process was over. Legally, he was our son. But it was nearly two months before we could travel across the world and meet him. He had been the beloved son in our hearts for nearly a year and then two months of having it legal on paper. All that time, though, he lived as an orphan in an orphanage. Though in every way he was a beloved son, his daily experience did not show it. It was a short but excruciating time in which what was true was not manifested in what was experienced. Over and over, the Lord brought me to that memory of those months: Was Daniel a beloved son? Yes! Was he longed for, provided for, and his future secure in our home? Yes, yes, yes! But could he have grasped it? Not a chance. Did anything in his day-to-day existence change from that of an orphan? No. But was he a beloved son? Yes!

There is a time when the truth is not comprehensible. But it is still true. 

The Lord is his shepherd, he lacks nothing. 

Slowly but excitedly, I started believing this child in our host families is beloved, with a future, and the hope of healing. I stopped praying that God would provide this child healing and belonging and started praying that my eyes could see what is already true. It became a prayer of timeline rather than of provision. The provision is secure, whether we will see it in this lifetime or in eternity. And I think I saw the smile of God, who told us all along to be praying his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven, this child lacks nothing. 

Though I can't share his name, will you join in praying our eyes soon see and this child's experience soon matches the love, healing, and belonging we know to be his in faith? 

Thank you. And amen.

Drumroll please....

 

The total for this year's Hungry Months Challenge generosity is $3,248.45, enough to feed 45 people for three months!!!! And we have a team of believers in the local church ready to do it! THANK YOU for giving and sharing. Some of the names that came through with donations I don't recognize, a sure sign you shared the challenge with friends and made it so much bigger. THANK YOU! Isn't the global church a beautiful thing?

*Photo credit: our friend Abdoulaye, who carved the platter

Even Now

I so badly want to introduce you to this host mom, but have to be mindful of security concerns.  Instead of sharing her name or photo, you will know her by her arms and her story as she is so lovingly caring for this baby right now as I type this and as you read it.

This mom had one girl and four boys of her own, but she lost her young daughter. Now, as a host mom, she finds it significant that all the babies God has placed in her home have been girls. Her beautiful words when talking about the baby in her arms were, "When I look at this little one in my arms and think of her mom, my soul creeps into my eyes."

My soul creeps into my eyes. Oh, how I wish we could all sit with this woman and learn from her. While I can't physically make that happen, we do sit at the feet of the One who is both her teacher and ours, her Comforter and ours. The One who closed the gap between the physical world and the spiritual. The One who connects us over here with this mom carrying for orphans on the other side of the world. The One who is present with us AND her even now in the moment I type these words and as you read them. To Him be the glory.

Let Us Pray

A dear friend asked this week for a specific prayer to be praying over the crisis in West Africa. Our prayer is this one adapted from Psalm 72:1-5. Join us....

“Give your love of justice to the governments, O God, and righteousness to the next generation of leaders.

Help them judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.

May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful. 

Help them defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.

May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky. Yes, forever!”

The Peace of Wild Things

photo from Grand Tetons National Park last week

In response to the worsening security situation, a missionary friend sent us this poem by Wendell Berry:

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Twelve cent medicine and underage wizards

Helping Titus with a project for his International Development class, I pulled this book out of a drawer where I long ago forgot about it as I focused my reading on making a home in America. This quote, though, tore at me while simultaneously being understandable to a young teen. 

"In a single day, on July 16, 2005, the American and British economies delivered nine million copies of the sixth volume of the Harry Potter children's book series to eager fans. Book retailers continually restocked the shelves as customers snatched up the book. Amazon and Barnes & Noble shipped preordered copies directly to customers' homes. There was no Marshall Plan for Harry Potter, no International Financing Facility for books about underage wizards. It is heartbreaking that global society has evolved a highly efficient way to get entertainment to rich adults and children, while it can't get twelve-cent medicine to dying poor children." Will Easterly, The White Man's Burden

The twelve-cent medicine the author refers to is a dose of malaria medicine that could prevent half of all malaria deaths. Years ago we had the heartbreak of a child in the ministry dying of malaria. Regularly, our ministry leader meets with caretakers of babies whose mothers have died of malaria. 

We have also participated in the system that efficiently gets entertainment to rich adults and children. There is a temptation when in one system to forget that the other exists, but what I want you to do is hold onto that tension.