constant, unbroken connection

"If only I could make every child of His realize what it means that the everlasting God has given His dear Son, Christ Jesus, to watch over you every day, and that what you have to do is to trust. If only I could make His children understand that the work of the Holy Spirit is to enable you every moment to remember Jesus and to trust Him! The Spirit has come to keep the link with Him unbroken every moment. Praise God for the Holy Spirit! We are so accustomed to thinking of the Holy Spirit as a luxury for special times or for special ministers and men. But the Holy Spirit is necessary for every believer, every moment of the day. Praise God that you have Him, and that He gives you the full experience of the deliverance in Christ as He makes you free from the power of sin." Andrew Murray in Absolute Surrender.

This is one thing I've been learning here in Uganda. The desperate need that I have to be led along by the Spirit of God. There is so much need, there's so much that is just not possible depending on my own weak flesh. I need that connection with Jesus to remain unbroken throughout each day, and this is what Holy Spirit does for me. The Holy Spirit is the one that searches and knows the depths of both my heart and the Heart of God, and continually aligns my heart with His and my desires with His. Praise God with me for the gracious gift that is His Holy Spirit.

home visits

Went to the village the other day to check up on three of the girls that we took on retreat. The first one we visited, called Dina, we spotted along the road as she was running to her home. She quickly brought out chairs for us to sit in and then ran off to the local town center to get sodas and mandazies for us her guests. (the picture with pig is Dina's grandmother and Bena as we wait for Dina to come back.) she was running everywhere, we could tell she was excited to see us again. One of the difficulties in visiting people in the village is that they always want to prepare something for you the visitor and you can spend hours under a tree by yourselves while the host prepares something, then the whole point of visiting is missed. In this case we only had to wait about 30min for our host to sit down with us...she went to get the sodas, came back sweating, b/c she was running everywhere she was going, needed to bathe, than she finally came back to us when her brother told her to go get more sodas and mandazies for us, there she went running again, but finally made it back, I confirmed with her that she should not bathe again we just wanted to sit with her, allow her to share and pray with her. (this is us sitting and sharing)

Her story is a hard one. Her mother gave birth and then pretty much handed her over to the grandparents to raise, no one knows who her father is. Now her mother has died and she still lives with her grandparents. I should say with her grandmother b/c the grandfather is actually staying with his other wife a few kilometers away so he's not really around most the time. Her uncle is only 2 years older than her so he grew up like a brother of hers, yet the grandfather has refused to pay for school fees any longer for this 17yr old girl. she made it to her second year in secondary school when her grandfather thought it time for her to stop wasting his money and get married. But she didn't want to, she wants to go to school, we think her grandparents could even afford the school fees and yet they won't let her go b/c they don't want to waste money on her. sometimes the auntie that's around will say mean things to her and tell her to go find her dad, then she goes away for a week to visit another auntie and calm down and clear her head. She loves the Lord and we really see her come alive when dancing and doing drama. And she loves singing in choir at church. After she shared with us some struggles, we prayed for her and her family and went on our way. We headed to the next house..that of mary's. But I think that's enough posting for right now. I'll have to talk more about her in another post later on. Please be praying for Dina, especially that she might be aware of her identity in Christ despite those around her not caring for her so much. Also pray that somehow she would be able to go back to school again. thank you.

Keeper of our hearts

Wednesday nights is when the women from our team meet together for bible study. This last wednesday night I knew there would be much pain and frustration among the different team members, as we have been under what appears to be increased attack from the enemy. We decided to do a worship and prayer night instead of studying the bible. Jennifer and I were hosting. As each woman walked in the door that night I began to become overwhelmed with the burdens they were carrying. As we chatted I silently prayed for Holy Spirit to do His thing and minister to our hearts. As we began to worship and many of us began to weep I was reminded of how much Jesus cares for us. I slowly handed over each heart to him, confidently knowing that there was no one else who we could trust our hearts to like Him. I wanted to some how give peace and comfort to each heart, but I couldn't really even scratch the surface, however I saw Holy Spirit work in such a real way ministering to the hearts of us women as we ministered to our Lord. A deeper revelation and understanding of the perfect love of Christ came to me that night. I saw clearly the way He loves His beloved bride and longs for them to come to Him and offer their hurting, bleeding hearts to him. I was reminded of how he continuously intercedes for us, fights for us and how quickly we are to blame Him for not caring for us or forgetting about us. I thought of how much hurt was in a room of only 7 ladies, and yet wow, thinking of all the rest of the hurting hearts in Soroti alone none the less Uganda and the rest of the world. Praise God that He is big enough and caring enough to reach out to each and every one. Lord Jesus, thank you that we can trust you with the very depths of our hearts! Holy Spirit thanks for ministering to our hearts. Continue to lead us to the Father's heart. Thank you that what overwhelms us is not overwhelming at all to you. Your love is so much deeper.

Bible Study at Dokolo Begins

I have for the last week been watching my team leader's children as he and his wife have been in kenya b/c of infection. Today i took a short break from babysitting to begin a bible study at the primary school called Dokolo in Kamuda. It will last at least 8 weeks as a trial run going through this program called Book of Hope. If it works well here we will train others to also go into other schools and do the same thing. They've given us 23 kids who we will meet with friday's from 2-4. they're giving us two hours during their regular school day. anyway. today the kids were pretty quiet and timid, but I can't wait to see how God works in their lives and they become free to share with us. Please pray for the students at Dokolo Primary School that we will be working with for the next several weeks. That the heart of God would really be portrayed by Berna and I as we share with these students. When Berna asked them today how many of them had eaten lunch, only one out of 23 kids raised their hand. I remember how much trouble i have focusing when i haven't eaten in two hours, none the less all day...

thanks for your prayers... a few photos from the day...

Learning the memory verse, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Drawing pictures of their families (i'll try to scan a few in once i get back to my house next week)

The school.

jinja

spent just under a week in jinja going through a program called Transformation of the Heart. It was a time of examining my heart and listening to God. I'm still processing everything, so I'll have to write more later, but for now I just want to say I'm thankful that God is patient with me and only reveals as much stuff for me to work on as I can handle at a time. and so many times God gives us different names for Himself and yet still we cannot grasp, can't fathom Him really...His love...His patience...His persistence...all is but a shadow of what's to come. today i was learning about God as I AM WHO I AM. what stood out to me as i considered this name this morning. God knew that the Israelites would need that Name as they were about to embark on quite the journey. He knew that as they struggled through the wilderness and the unknown, that they would need to cling to the God who does not change, Who remains faithful, consistently, no matter what situation/circumstance they found themselves in. God says I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE. He is remaining the same great, faithful, loving, jealous God He always has been. This is the One who I cling to. And I tell you HE IS FAITHFUL and His heart is BEAUTIFUL and nothing can change that.

the kamuda girls' retreat

Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for the retreat with the girls last weekend! I know God was working in their lives and is still working. I wish I could share more about the conversations, but to be honest, the majority of the conversations were held in Kumam, the girls' heart language. Bena led the bible studies or translated when I spoke if it was necessary. Bena would tell with me what the girls were sharing as she saw necessary. She shared that there was a definite sense of hopelessness for two of the girls, so please keep praying for them (Agnes and Dina). Agnes is the one stuck in a difficult early marriage situation and Dina is a full orphan whose grandfather stopped paying her school fees in the middle of senior high because he thought he didn't want to waste money on her as she would just get married and start having children. It was so good to see these girls free to laugh and enjoy themselves and God's beautiful creation, and learning from the word of God. They seemed to love the time they had there and even asked if we could extend it.

For me the hardest part was having to just sit and watch the bible studies. I wanted to be participating more in them, but I also understand how much better it is if it's done in their heart language. So I'm learning that the time when I'm simply observing I need not to get frustrated but use that time for praying for them as they talk. I'm still processing how we can do future retreats differently/better, but overall I'd do it again.

Retreating with Kamuda girls

I'm leaving tomorrow (friday the 3rd) for a weekend retreat with Bena and 4 girls that are on her drama team. I wanted to give the names of the girls and just a bit about them so you who are joining in prayer could pray by name. First there's Mary, she's about 20 or so years, she was forced into an early marriage (at 15yrs) by her parents so that they could get the dowry. When she moved in with the husband's family she was abused so ended up coming back home. She knows the Lord, so at least she finds hope there. Then there's Agnes she was also forced into an early marriage at 15yrs and she's not much older than that now. She does not want to be where she is now and has tried to move back home to her family again, but they began abusing her so that she would go back to her husband. they did not want to lose the dowry that the husband's family has already payed. She does not know Jesus yet, so please pray that His love becomes so evident to her this weekend. Then there's Dina and Teddy. Both of these girls know the Lord and that's pretty much all I know about them at this time. None of them have bibles, so i will be giving each a bible and trying to share basically how to read it on their own each day. Bena's also going to be leading some bible studies on our identity in Christ throughout the weekend, "I am God's Child" "I am bought with a price, I belong to God" and "I am the salt and light of the world." Please pray for these truths to penetrate their hearts and that they would be open to sharing and feeling free to ask Bena and I questions and share concerns and what not. And we want to take time praying for/with each girl. I'm really excited about the potential that this weekend holds. We are going to Sisysi Falls, which is a great place about 1.5 hrs away that is so beautiful and peaceful. It's so far one of my favorite spots in Uganda. Anyway, we come back Sunday morning. thanks for praying.