Today we were at a church in a nearby town in South Sudan, out in the bush, planted by Pastor Moses a few months back. Many of the believers were just baptized last week. This is a very young church and it is SO exciting to be a part of the discipleship process and to know the potential that is here.
It was a cool day, the wind was blowing and we sat on some makeshift wooden benches underneath towering trees. I sat with the Dinka women and children, holding Daniella while Abigail played in the sand near my feet. The Lord overwhelmed me with His presence and my heart overflowed with gratitude. Peace and joy flooded my heart, mind, and soul as I praised God for the immense privilege of living here in South Sudan. It has been quite a journey to get here yet the Lord has proven faithful each step of the way. Even on my worse days He has always been by my side, carrying me when I didn’t have the strength to put one foot in front of the other. Many days as we adjust to doing life here in South Sudan I feel like I’m barely keeping afloat, yet it is in moments such as this that I’m reminded I am RIGHT where God wants me to be. THANK YOU JESUS!
In many ways this baby church represents me as a missionary in South Sudan. I am just a baby missionary, as far as being an international missionary. I am learning how to balance my many roles as a Christian missionary-as a wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter, and team player on the foreign field. I am learning the languages-trade and heart languages. Many days I feel like I am taking 1 step forward only to fall flat on my face the next day. YET, thanks be to the God of all grace and mercy................
- AM. CHANGING. I am GROWING. I can feel it in the deepest parts of my soul and down to the marrow of my bones. Some days I look in the mirror and I marvel, I can feel myself changing, a little more each day. The mirror doesn’t reveal these changes. I am not the same person I was a year ago when I got on the plane leaving Georgia to move to Africa. As I reflect back over this past year, I realize it has been THE hardest year of my life. YET, it has also, by God’s grace, been the best in many ways. We have lived in 5 different countries, been without a home for 13 months, had numerous transitions, and had a second child (just to name a few of our major life changes). I have struggled with wanting to be in one place for more than 2 months at a time and wanting the constant traveling to be over. We have struggled as a family-as husband and wife, as parents, and redefining our roles as the children of parents and the siblings we left back in America. We have been blessed to meet many new people with a few who have become close friends. We have seen numerous people come to know Christ- seeing many be baptized into their new faith and have made lifelong friends. I have been on the highest of mountaintop experiences and through some very low, dark valleys. But I wouldn’t trade a moment of it for the Lord has truly given us joy through this journey.
Lord, as we embark on this journey of actually living here in South Sudan, You are beginning a great work in me, as our lives intertwine with the Dinka. You began Your work here before we arrived-both in the lives of Pastor Moses and the new believers he baptized and in our personal lives as members of the Dinka Echelon team. As I wake up each day and we are learning how to do life here-God, You are bringing so many ugly things in my life up to the surface-pride, impatience, selfishness, lack of grace and mercy. I am glaringly deficient in so many areas. I am very much aware of this fact. It is painful and oftentimes these ugly things of the flesh rear their heads at the most unexpected times-catching me off guard and knocking me down. They manifest themselves in many ways-my irritation and impatience at my family or team, becoming easily offended-ewwwww! How I hate them! But Lord, I pray You would continue to help these ugly things come up to the surface of my life so by Your perfect strength You can bring them out. No matter how much it hurts, squeeze these fleshly things out of me like the infection of a boil and heal them. Replace them dear Jesus with the fruits of Your Spirit-humility, patience and long-suffering, self denial, seeking the good of others first above myself, grace and mercy. I thank You God that You who have begun a good work in me will be faithful to complete it! You are EVER faithful!
