I’m writing this post from the porch of a beautiful guesthouse in Uganda. Our time at Harvest School in Mozambique has come to an end and our extended outreach time has begun. We arrived in Uganda 2 days ago and we’re currently enjoying some wonderful time resting and processing at a guesthouse before we head to the Iris base where we’ll stay for the next 3 weeks. Harvest School was busy and went by quickly, so we’re thankful for these days to rest and process all that happened over the last 2 months.
Harvest School was a stretching time for us. It wasn’t very comfortable to live in community 24/7, to always feel dirty and sweaty, to eat rice and beans so often (or a fish head!), to be swarmed by kids every time we left the compound, to be in class for hours at a time…Our expectations were different than what we experienced, but nonetheless, God did his beautiful work in our hearts. I (Erika) came with expectations of what God would do in me during the school. I was hoping for and expecting a “moment” when I would encounter Jesus in an extraordinary way, but I didn’t have that “moment”. Instead God just continued to work in me as He always has…gently and (according to me) slowly…a steady, gentle incline from glory to glory. However, my greatest prayer prior to school was, “God, I want to learn how to walk with you.” Day in and day out. Steady, stable, overflowing…a deep and beautiful intimacy with Jesus that won’t wane and won’t be effected by circumstances. I want to KNOW Him, that deep knowing that only few really step into…there are so many Christians who have never stepped into depth of intimacy with Jesus. But we can actually know his heart, hear his voice, He will actually share his secrets with those who are close enough and faithful to Him. I want that. I want to live the rest of my life in deep intimacy with the almighty creator, God of the universe, King of Kings, bridegroom Jesus. God brought me to a deeper place of surrender during this school. God brought me to the edge of the pool and I had to decide if I was going to jump in or stay on the edge. It was a process but I finally came to the conclusion that what other choice do I have? I’ve come too far to turn back, I know too much to do nothing, I’ve seen too much to be content where I am. As Peter said to Jesus, “Where else are we going to go? You alone have the words of life.” If I really believe that He is who He says He is, why would I stay on the edge? If He’s offering abundance of life and joy unspeakable, even in trials and adversity and He promises to never leave me of forsake me, what sense does it make to not jump in, to hold back? If I really believe He is who He says He is, there’s only one reasonable choice…jump all the way in. So I did. I jumped in and said, “Ok, Pappa God, here I am…catch me. I know nothing but that I love you. I don’t know how to swim. Hold me. I don’t know how to breath under water, let me die and allow you to resurrect me. I’m not the master of my own fate…if you don’t do something with me, I’m absolutely nothing. So now I’m completely in your hands.” (The silly thing is that I was always in His hands, but I didn’t think so, so I stressed myself out trying to sail my own ship and get where I thought I should go. Reality is, there wasn’t much wind in my sails and I couldn’t get far. God wasn’t breathing too hard on my efforts. He brought me to realize my sailing skills weren’t good enough - I wouldn’t and couldn’t get to the desired destination without His intervention.) He intervened. And now I depend on Holy Spirit to continue teaching me, revealing truth and keeping me at that place of surrender. One incredible thing about Iris is the way they depend on Holy Spirit. They live what they preach - love Jesus and depend on Holy Spirit. We’ve watched it lived out and been blessed by the example. This is a beautiful journey I’m on. I’m looking forward to all He will do on this outreach. I won’t be able to update much (this is way harder than I thought it would be!) and I want to be fully present where I am, but I will try to at least post pictures on Instagram. So hopefully you can stay updated there. This outreach team is so wonderful. We are having great team bonding time right now as we prepare to travel to the Iris base. We’re so excited to run with all these people. We’ve been blessed out of our minds the last 2 days. Since being in Mozambique, we have become so thankful for the little things…a good cup of coffee, a clean shower, cooler weather, menus and food choices…God is so good to pour out all these blessings on us! And we want to stay in this place of awe and thankfulness! Tomorrow we will head to the Iris base in Uganda (which is still being built). Two weeks ago the president of South Sudan granted all 100 of the Iris children the opportunity to leave South Sudan and take refuge in Uganda, so they are now transitioning to a new base, new school, new environment , new language and we are thankful to be here at such a time as this. We will be spending time with the children and helping in whatever ways we can. We will buy gifts and throw an amazing Christmas party for them (they have nothing but 2 outfits - they had to escape their home and leave their belongings behind.) We will spend time talking with them and allowing Holy Spirit to use us to bring healing to their traumatized hearts. We will also be ale to go into a refugee camp in Uganda where 100,000 South Sudanese refugees are living in tents with little to no food. We will have plenty to do! Please pray for us as we embark on this adventure. Please pray Ephesians 1:15-19 over us…we want to be filled with the knowledge of His will, to not see with our physical eyes but that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened that we’d see how He sees, that we’d see with spiritual eyes. We don’t want to be hindered by our carnal mind, we want Jesus to do all he wants to do in this time - to be totally unhindered. Please pray and if God gives you a word for us, please share it with us! We need you all, we need the body of Christ so we can be strengthened and function like we were created to. Thank you so much for your prayers and your care towards us. We are looking forward to sharing more stories and testimonies in the upcoming weeks! Bless you all!
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AuthorA & E. Currently living in the USA but called to the nations for this season of our lives. Devoting our lives to His Kingdom Come... Archives
April 2017
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