Faith Lessons From a Seven Year Old

It has been a really long time since I have written on here. Most of the time I don’t know what to write, or it seems as if I write what I’m thinking it won’t come across the right way. It is so hard to put into words what it is like to be here day in and day out. Some days are great, full of laughing babies, parents coming to adopt and babies learning to walk. Other days are incredibly frustrating for many reasons or no reason at all.  So here is a glimpse into one of the good days and what God has been teaching me lately.

During Bible time we’ve been reading the Old Testament. We had recently read about the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years and how God provided manna and quail from heaven. We had also been praying for the girls’ dad, Troy, who had been on a short- term mission trip to South Sudan. (How’s that for a challenge? A full time missionary who goes on a short- term mission trip!) . We prayed for his safety, and a lot about snakes, and we prayed for the people of South Sudan to know Jesus. One day as the girls were praying one of them said “Jesus please let the South Sudan people have Bibles so they can know you better. Please even let Bibles fall from the sky so they can have them.” Now I have to admit I had to hold back a chuckle because it was just so cute and sweet. But as the week went on I began to wonder why I laughed. The truth is that God has shown over an over in His word that he provides every need of His people.  After all didn’t the manna fall from the sky each day? I realized how weak my faith is sometimes. I don’t pray for God to make Bibles fall from the sky because I don’t truly believe it will happen. Instead I might pray for God to send a person to bring Bibles, because that is more logical and makes more sense in today’s world. We can even justify those circumstances in our own human strength. But Bibles falling from the sky, that we can’t justify. That can only be God. In His word God says “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22. Somewhere in South Sudan Bibles could literally be falling from the sky because a little girl prayed for it to happen believing that God would do it. I wonder if we don’t see more of these miracles from God because we don’t ask for them. Not that what we do pray for is wrong, but I know I definitely don’t pray big enough most of the time.

We have also been memorizing a verse a week, one for each letter of the Alphabet. It “just so happens” that the verse for this week is “For nothing is impossible with God” Luke 1:37 I think I need to re-learn the definition of nothing. There are a lot of things I act like are impossible for God. There are a lot of things that this world makes seem impossible, joy in the midst of suffering, a lasting faithful marriage, healing for those who are sick or hurt, families for millions of orphaned babies and children and the list goes on and on. But the more I think about these things the more I remember that there is an example of God working in almost every imaginable situation written out for us in the Bible. In each instance the people have incredible faith that God can and will do what they are asking, and God does.

So I have hope that the things I have been praying for will happen in God’s way in His timing, and I pray with more faith knowing nothing is impossible for Him.

                                                Believing there are Bibles falling in Sudan,

                                                                                    Jenny

Goldilocks and the three beds...and the human car seat.

Well it is official.. I live in Africa now! It may seem strange to you, but it actually seems normal to me.

            On Sunday I moved from Little Eden in Kinangop to His Cherished Ones in Nakuru. They are about 2 hours apart and very different. Little Eden is very rural. In that part of Kenya there are many people who live without power or running water. We’re still praying that Kenya Power will hurry up and connect the lines near the new Boy’s Dormitory and Yanga school so the boys can move in and both Yanga and Cheese Primary schools will have access to water. The wells that have been drilled cannot pump the water without electricity.  His Cherished Ones is situated on the outskirts of Nakuru, the 3^rd largest city in Kenya. The property borders an amazingly beautiful cornfield dotted every so often with the quintessential African tree.  At Eden all that you can see for miles is farmland, in Nakuru there is a mixture of suburban development, farmland and the city dump. At Eden I shared a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen with 3-12 other people. At HCO I have a huge room all to myself complete with 3 beds. Of course the first three nights I tried out each bed in turn trying to determine which was the best. One was too soft, one too hard and one just right. Included in my very important bed decision was consideration for the amount of cracks in the molding at the ceiling above each bed. Those cracks make great hideouts for all kids of spiders and other crawly things. Although in this area they are harmless I’ve been told, I’d still prefer they didn’t crawl on me while I’m sleeping.  Today I officially crowned my new bed by putting real American sheets on it!  At Eden as I laid awake in bed early in the morning there was a cacophony of noise from the multiple roosters, donkeys, birds, dogs, children heading off to school (at 6am!) and Peter trying to start the Land Rover or tractor. At HCO as I drift into consciousness I am greeted by birds, dogs and babies. Sometimes crying and being soothed by Aunties singing various children’s worship songs and sometimes laughing and saying “Auntie, Auntie!”

In both places I wake up incredibly in awe that my heavenly father would bestow this amazing gift upon me to have the privilege to spend this time here. In both places I have seen the love of Christ being lived out and displayed by both the staff and Americans living here to children who are so dearly loved. I am so thankful to be a part of it.

Since arriving in Nakuru I have had 2 pretty interesting experiences…

The first day I was here an adopting couple was able to take their new son Tate home with them. For the last 2 years I have spent weeks in Kenya working with and loving on orphans, and months at home praying for them and missing my sweet kids, but for the first time I was witnessing the completion of the adoption process.  I honestly do not even have words to describe the joy on the faces of this sweet Dutch couples face as the loaded up their son into their car and prepared to take him home as their own for the first time. All the aunties and babies and staff lined the driveway with balloons and sang as they drove off to start their new life as a family. I was trying so hard not to cry. I felt silly. I didn’t even know this baby or really know this couple at all. What gets me is that this is such a perfect tangible picture of the way God loves us. In John 14:18 the word says “ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” In the same way these parents came for Tate, Christ comes for us. He comes to bring us into relationship with him to eventually bring us home as his sons and daughters.  As Tate will receive a new last name and become part of a family, when we join the family of God we also receive a new name. Our old identity as an “orphan” of this world is washed away and we are given a new identity. I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than this truth in life.

      My second interesting experience for the week was taking 3 babies to the hospital to get their 9-month and 18-month immunizations. Brie (an HCO intern), Susan one of the Aunties and Tracy the social worker and I loaded up the 3 babies into Brie’s car. Brie driving, every other adult served as a human car seat. We arrived at the hospital, which opens at 8 around 9:15.  We sat in the waiting area for at least 30 minutes because the Doctors or nurses had yet to open the clinics. 3 people with their babies were allowed into the room with the nurses at a time. Brie Susan and I took in 2 babies along with another mother with her son. They were weighed and measured, then back to the waiting room. Finally we were called in to a different room (still 3 at a time) where we held the babies as they got their injections. The thing that shocked me the most about this whole experience was as I was sitting in the waiting area there were sign after sign about precautions to take not to spread HIV to your partner, to your child during childbirth etc., but as the babies were getting their shots the nurse wore no gloves and never swiped them with an alcohol swab before giving their shot. I’m sure my mother who is a nurse for a pediatrician is having a panic attack as she is reading this.  All in all getting vaccinations is a huge blessing to these kids who might not get them otherwise. Hopefully it will keep them healthy and happy.  As I rode home I became a human car seat again bottle-feeding one of the babies who promptly fell asleep. I was covered in baby slobber, and have formula on my shirt, but what a peaceful feeling knowing that this one I held in my arms was safe, and cared for.

Galatians 5:6 “ The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

 

I am sure the days to come will hold many more interesting Kenyan experiences. I’ll try to update more often as long as the Internet cooperates. Thanks for reading!