Everywhere.

Sunset while on Nile River.

Where can I flee from your presence?  

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 

even there Your hand shall lead me.

-Psalm139:7,9

Faithful.

God is faithful.  I’ve been talking with people about my future, and subconsciously I guess I’m freaking out.  I informed people that it is honestly all in his hands, and I have no idea what he has in store. The plan right now is medical school, but I don’t know if I can be away from Uganda and my baby lovies that long.  He reminded me to truly trust that it is in his hands.  He know the plans he has for me, and I'm going to walk in his way even if that means being apart from my babies that long.  He reminded me so quickly in fact.  I read my devotion for the night, and this is what it said. (Allison, this is perfect for you too.)

Such Beauty.

  Psalm 32:10 “He who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.” 

At times, God requires a season of waiting before he sends his blessing. Then trust becomes your greatest asset.  If you don’t trust God, you will cry out in fear and panic.  At one point, during a storm on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples thought they would perish.  But Jesus commanded the wind and waves to be still.  He taught these men how to trust Him even in the most tempestuous of circumstances, and He is teaching you to watch and wait for His outstretched arm.

 –Charles Stanley    Into his presence

Ruthieee!

Alan.

Oh Lord, this is also what I needed to hear since I’ll be leaving my 2 baby girls here unfortunately.  We will be too far apart for too long.  This past Saturday, I was able to go again to Canaan’s to see my boys and Liti there.  I love that the children are now beginning to recognize me.  It’s a good thing I’ll be coming back to see their faces soon!  Right, Allison? :]]  God continues to amaze me, even with the small things.  I’ve never had to find a boda man to drive me back to Amani.  Each week, he amazes me with providing a person or group who is heading that direction and taking me back. 

Love that smile and the giggle that went along with this picture.

Beautiful Honor.

Surika.
strutting on the runway.

My precious girl.

Mom and Dad, this is Josiah.
I found a picture on my camera that one of the boys had taken.

Right after she woke up.

This week there was a team from Stony Point Church from Richmond, VA who were staying in the guest house at Amani.   I love to see the body of Christ in Action, especially a church that gets “defend the cause of the orphan.”  Each one of the team members was so inviting, friendly, and hospitably.  I love that many of them were older.  (white hair)  Some of them had been coming to Canaan’s for over 7 years, and many of them have even sponsored the older boys for 12 years.  It was so neat to see everything the church has done for Caanan’s including helping them run the sponsorship program, financially, and teaching them to help document where money is spent.  They also contact nearby hospitals in Virginia and bring cargos full of supplies all donated to Canaan’s Health Clinic and the Children’s Hospital in Jinja.  This is exactly what the Church should look like.  They told me that they were headed to main street, and that there is always room in the van.  We rode back into town, and come to find out they were 1^st going to place their dinner order at the restaurant right across the street from Amani.  How crazy is God!!! HE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS PROVIDES!   

Some of the people at Stony Point.
They were up there on stage with their children they sponsor.

MARVIN.
[Mom and Dad,
Aren't you in LOVE with this boy because I am.
Can't wait to tell him you're his sponsors!]

My boys were doing well, and so were all the children.  I love getting all their hugs, and just sitting with them.  All of the youngest children had gotten their heads shaved.  My little Liti is a bald beauty mixed with a spunky personality and an adorable wrinkly nose when she laughs.  What do you think?  And how am I suppose to leave this face?  

My bald headed beauty.

I do know that I believe in a God who is faithful, and is the only person who can help mend my heart.  I'm going to have to depend on him more than ever before.  Right now, I'm just going to savor the last week I'm here, and LOVE so deep deep, so down down, deep down in my heart.    

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;

he will never let the righteous fall.

Psalm 55:22

Okay, I know I might be biased, but don't I just belong.

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

1 Corinthians 1:9

My boys and little bit.
Our little family.

The Beginning.

I’ve never been a half effort person until I reflected my relationship with Jesus my first semester at college.  This lukewarm, penciling in version I called a true relationship with Christ was unlike any other activity I participated in and was not like my typical relationships.  The version of the Gospel I was acting out was not what my loving King deserved.  Was he truly who I lived for?  Did I schedule him into my day or was he my day?  Moving hundreds of miles away from my close-knit family and not knowing a single soul, Jesus began to completely open my heart to him.  He showed me that he was who I could rely on.  He was always there for me.  He is my best friend I could ever ask for.  He wanted to my protector, lover, and comforter.  I didn’t need anyone else there to do that.  My satisfaction lies in him.

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”  -Revelation 3:15-16

Jesus is slowly letting me see and begin to love like him.  I look around and see what he sees; despair, brokenness, pain, suffering, hurt. But then I see his little signs, and I hear his quiet whispers that he is here amidst it all, sovereign.  I asked him to break my heart and open my eyes.  He did, for the orphan especially.  For the racism still present.  For the homeless and weak.  He showed me how many people still NEED to hear the GOSPEL, and how Christians need it just as much.  My life is not okay to live in my own world circled around me.  It is not my life.  It is his.  He’s who I live for. He’s what matters everyday when my schedule is so jammed packed that I forget whose agenda I’m really on.  So, I’m sick of the comfort.  I’m jumping off of the subway, as my Pastor Bryan in Memphis would say, running towards the finish line while clinging to my KING. 

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” -Matthew 10:39

            Jesus demands your life, every single part of it, and when you lose your life, you gain something better.  Following Jesus is NOT a life of comfort, half effort, and mediocrity.  There is no middle ground.  It’s all in or nothing.  I’m in the game and trying to lose my baggage along the way, including my desire to have an excessive amount of clothing and many other ideas deemed important by the world.  The world wants me to get caught up in myself and my desires, but not God.  Even in my sinful moments, he’s ALWAYS there with arms open wide.  This comfortable life is old.  I want to join the ride and proclaim God’s glory and sovereignty to all the nations, and live all in for him wherever he leads.  There is no middle ground that people “Christians” have tried to create.  The Gospel goes right along with this.

            I love him and cling to him for he is my Creator, Rock, Father, King and Comforter, and HE alone is worthy and righteous.       

So, my journey has taken off.  My feet will hit the red dirt of Uganda on June 2^nd, 2011 with my best friend Allison, and a team from Visiting Orphans.  After the first 2 weeks, I will continue my journey and stay at Amani Baby Cottage for the next month.  I’ll begin my long journey home on July 11^th. 

            God has broken my heart for the orphans and fatherless.  They are just waiting for someone to listen to God’s call to step out in faith, forget what the world says, and jump off the subway and out of the comfortable live. (bc he sets the lonely in families.)   Adoption and the Orphan Crisis is a whole other post.  The staggering statistic is that there are between over 147 million orphans in the world.  The orphan crisis is a silent epidemic because these children have no voice.   Uganda is a country with a population of 32.4 million people.  There are over 2.3 million orphans in Uganda. 

“God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”  -Psalm 68:6

JESUS has given me such a joyous and complete feeling.  I know my purpose and that he has a plan for me, not my own plan or the worlds.  I’m not worrying about my future because he’s there and will guide me every step of the way.  I want to stay on his road and not stray away.  For he completes me and was there ready and waiting for when I decided to fall completely back in love with my Jesus and back into his arms surrendered fully to him.  I’m so excited for this journey I’m on while clinging to him. 

"I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own, it is not for man to direct his steps. -Jeremiah 10:23

 “'For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”  -Jeremiah 29:11

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” James 1:27

-Lindsay

I'm officially a blogger!

I'm SO glad that God has broken my hearts for what breaks his.