Brave

Head down, eyes lowered in shame….she came to the clinic. Two years ago she was sick and fell into a fire. Burns all over both legs, one never recovered. Her left leg is contracted and several inches shorter than her right leg, making it impossible to walk without a stick. 

She hobbled into the clinic. Two hours were spent debriding the wound – removing infection and dead skin carefully with a scalpel. And this brave girl watched the whole thing. She never cried, just held onto Casey’s hand and endured it. Finally, when it was done, she smiled and thanked us again and again. No one had ever taken the time to care for it. Her mother told us before leaving, “She is happy again.”

This girl who shares my Ugandan name is near to my heart. She is a Muslim and knows who Jesus is but obeys her religion. She is in the darkness. We pray for the One who heals perfectly to open her heart.

She comes every day now to get her dressing changed. And this girl walks on one leg, leaning on a stick,  over an hour to get here….over rocks and uphill paths, in the heat of the day with no water. She comes with a smile and a laugh. She comes without her head covered. She stays to play netball on one leg. She smiles again. 

And every day, most importantly, she hears about Jesus. Just as her foot needed to be cleaned and all of the decay scraped off, so her soul needs the same. And so do ours. Only Jesus can heal, only He can take our brokenness and our rotting flesh and replace it with life. 

Thank you, Jesus, for Your faithfulness.

God's Word is a Treasure

These two boys came to the door tonight asking for bibles.  I jumped up, asked if they could read English, and they said, "yes".  So I gave them each one.  I told them they had one assignment, that they should read to their friends who can't.  Immediately after saying, "thank you", they ran to the tree with all the others gathered around them and began reading God's word to their friends. 

It is so humbling to be here.  I just love these people.

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.  I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:9-11

Because of Jesus,
Debbie

Beginning to Laugh

"Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:5-7


There are no words for these pictures.  Just tears of joy.  You see, since we have been here, we walk through the community every Tuesday.  The first Tuesday, we noticed this girl. She is 13 years old.  Other children in the family are in school.  But not this one.  She is caring for her younger siblings who are also not in school.  There are so many children.  The look on her face is like death.  Hopeless.  Dressed in rags. Caring for the children. 

She gets our attention.  This look of despair.  We cannot stop thinking about her.  We ask about school.  There are so many who need to be sponsored.  But this hopelessness.  God does not let us forget.

You see, here in this culture, if a girl is not in school, she will more than likely be married off and have a baby by the time she is 15 years old.  This one is dangerously close. 

I think of my own life.  Hopeless. Helpless. Dressed in filthy rags.  Full of despair and darkness.  Sin.  And Jesus came.  He gave it all.  Saved me from hell.  Took my life and gave me His.  Abundant life.  Pure Joy.  He paid the price for my soul.  For hers.  For yours.

We call for her and her 9 year old sister. They come with their mom.  We interview them. Take their photos.  They will go to school this next term.   We find out they are Muslim.  They don't know Jesus. Yet.  Hopeless and helpless.  Their father is not living with them, he has many wives. "He is not interested" I was told.  This mom is caring for 8 children on her own.  Darkness all around.  But they have a Father who is interested.  One who gave His life so they could know this love. Jesus.

So every day since then, they come.  Dressed up and with smiles so wide.  They come to play.  They come to find us.  This one is a child again.  I wish you could see her joy.  Her mom's joy.  Her mom stopped to play jump-rope with me last night.  We laughed and played.  Like children. There is joy.  She hugged me tight when she left.  I see love.

So we pray for their family.  We pray for their souls.  There is hope in a Savior that loves the unlovable.  He alone is the One that saves.  We will give Him all the glory. 

UPDATE:  I typed this yesterday and the internet went out before I could send it.  Today this one came to church to praise the Lord with His children.  "For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does."  Psalm 33   HE IS FAITHFUL.  We continue to praise His Holy Name.

(they are the ones dressed in black)

So humbled by His grace and love,
Debbie

His Will is Perfect

Shortly after we arrived in the village, a woman named Prossy, showed up at the clinic, with her brother, begging for someone to help her fight for her life.  She had cervical cancer and had a partial hysterectomy and needed treatment.  She had no money.  None.  She wanted to live.  She had 3 kids at home.  We cannot turn away from the one in front of us.  We prayed with her and her brother, and sent her on her way with the doctor and money for treatment at the hospital. We pleaded with God for her life. “Please heal  this one for your glory, Lord, according to your will."   And He did.  For His glory.

Today we grieve.  She passed away due to emergency complications  last week.  God did heal her in His perfect way.  She was born again.  She is completely healed and in heaven with Jesus.  I don't always understand His ways.  I grieve as I think of three more orphans  left behind.  But He is a perfect, holy, just God.  He has conquered sin and death.  On. The. Cross.   I will praise His name.  Still.  Even when there are tears.  "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

I love Him with all of my broken heart.  Because He first loved me.  

Only because of His grace,
Debbie

School

The kids are on break from school now.  And unlike American school kids, the ones here weren’t jumping up and down with excitement because they have a whole month of school off.  Instead, the kids at this school were sad that it was the end of the term. Why? Because the reality is, for many of these kids, no school also means no food. And no school means no get-away from a very difficult life that you and I could not even imagine.  School, actually, is the break for these kids.

Tuesday we went out into the village like we do every Tuesday to visit with families that live here, bring food to them, and share the gospel- eternal food- with them. Every other Tuesday that we went the kids had always been in school so we never saw them in their homes.  This week, however, when we went, the kids were all there. They were no longer dressed in their nice school uniforms, but instead they were dressed in torn, dirty, ripped-up clothes that you and I would have thrown away long ago. It’s at that point you realize, school is not only a get-away for them, but it offers them the opportunity to get out of poverty.

The kids here are so eager to learn. The Primary 4 (comparable to 4^th grade) teacher offers an optional Saturday class to the Primary 5 students for whoever wants to come. The first Saturday I went I was shocked by the number of students that showed up. There were 16 students there by 9:30am and they continued to trickle in after that. I was shocked not only because they were 11 to 14 year old kids who were choosing to go to school on their day off, but also because some of these kids have to walk an extremely far distance to school.  I told the teacher that if I offered a Saturday class in America, the only way anyone would show up is if their parents made them.

A few weeks ago, I was teaching and we had some spare time in class, so I taught the Primary 5 students about the world. I attempted to draw a map on the chalkboard, which was horribly inaccurate, but it worked. I showed them where they lived. I showed them where all the continents and oceans are. I showed them where I came from. They were so interested. One of the boys raised his hand and started asking about something called, “Mart or something.” He went on to describe these “circle things that are in a line.” He was talking about the planet Mars. They had never learned about the solar system. I started teaching them about the moon, sun, and planets. Their faces were priceless. Their innocence was incredible. Questions came like, “Are there people living on those planets?” and, “What happens if you went to the moon and fell off, would you land on a star?” and comments like, “Wow! I want to live on the moon one day!”

 The potential in these kids is immeasurable, but the opportunity for them to exercise it is so small. I think of many kids in America who are constantly told, “You can be anything you want to be.” I think of how so many parents in America fight so that their kids can have every opportunity imaginable. But here, life is not so much about striving to be all that you can be, but instead it’s about survival. Here kids must sleep on dirt floors with their family’s chickens, goats, pigs, and sheep sleeping on the same floor. Here kids have little to no food outside of school to keep their minds going. Here kids are often sick because they can’t afford a mosquito net to protect them from malaria. It’s sad, but it’s reality.

The odds are against all of them, but in Jesus there is hope. Not hope that one day each of these kids will move to the big city and make lots of money, but hope that they were each created for a purpose. I am thankful for God’s faithfulness. His faithfulness spreads to every person in this world.

“The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands.” Psalm 138:8

This verse provides hope for the kids in this school, for sweet Grace whose future is still unknown to us, for every abandoned baby that is brought to our doorstep, and for every person that God has brought into this world. I am so thankful. Hope does not mean that they are promised money, a nice home, safety, health, or stuff, but it means that in the midst of struggles and affliction, Jesus is always the answer. This life is filled with hardships, disasters, sickness, and struggles. Whether you’re from America, Africa, or somewhere else, this life is hard. It’s hard because of sin. Your sin. My sin. But praise God that He rescues us out of it when we did nothing to deserve it. Through Jesus, we have hope that when this life ends, it’s not over. When we put our trust in Him and choose to follow Him alone, He does not take away all of our struggles and hardships, but He promises to help us through them and use them all for our good and ultimately for His glory and purposes. Praise His name. We all have a purpose, and He promises to fulfill it in all of us.  I want every child to know this. I want every child to know Him. That is why we’re here. Education provides opportunity, but without Jesus, it’s all vanity. All of it. It’s all worthless without Jesus. Oh Jesus, please penetrate the hearts of each of these kids. Penetrate the hearts of each of their parents. Penetrate the hearts of each person in this village. They are yours, and You are faithful. Always.