So here I am almost 2 weeks into Uganda and I find myself still struggling to write my blog for Rwanda. I discovered the reason it is so difficult and daunting to sit down and try and put my collected thoughts about a month down in blog form is because there is so much that goes into each month. There are so many different experiences that compile one month on the race. Such a vast array of emotions and lessons learned, different valleys trudged through and mountain tops rejoiced upon, such varying ministries encountered and oh so many memories! So I'm finally forcing myself to sit down and try to put into words a general summation of my life in Rwanda last month…so here goes!
To start off with, our ministry for the month was all over the place! We spent most of our time preaching in churches literally every single day. At first the idea of preaching in front of large congregations filled with very passionate Africans seemed quite daunting, but surprisingly I feel in love with it. Not necessarily the preaching every day aspect of it, but just having the opportunity to rise up and start walking out the calling that the Lord has been preparing me for. I can remember back to month 2 in Nicaragua where the Lord spoke my inheritance over me and my calling which is to teach and speak His words to the body of Christ. So naturally I came alive as I spent time pouring through the scriptures and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through me as I prepared speak out the words of the Father. The Lord brought such revelation of His heart to mine as I studied His word with intent to preach it. He is so funny to always call you to teach on the very thing that He is having you walk through in the moment or the thing you are wrestling through with Him in your own life. As you go through those valleys of searching and desperation, He works out those lessons in your heart as you speak to others about walking in those valleys as well. I found such a passion for speaking out the truth of God, because I saw such a decrease in myself and such a filling of the Holy Spirit in all of those instances. All of the moments I found myself in the pulpit I had to rely fully on the Spirits leading to speak out His words and not my own, in order that the heart of the Father may be made known to His church. I was humbled and honored to have been used as the mouthpiece of the Lord! My hearts cry all month was that I would speak only what I heard the Father saying. That's just like our Jesus.
Aside from the daily church services that we served in we also found ourselves being the hands and feet of Jesus in so many situations. I literally felt so many times that we were truly walking in His footsteps as we carried the gospel message down every dirt road in Rwanda. We spent many mornings going house to house, bible in hand, to share the love of Christ with anyone and everyone we could find. Now I know how cliche it sounds for a missionary to be walking down a dirt road in Africa with a bible in one hand, knocking on every door they find, and telling people about Jesus; but the Lord was definitely leading regardless of my apprehension with the whole thing. And the best part of it all was how open the people were. To them it wasn't awkward to have someone come to their door and ask to share Jesus with them. On the contrary, they welcomed us like honored guests and listened intently to every word we said. They were so open to know the heart of God and to have truth spoken to them. So many times we would just be sharing certain verses that were dear to our hearts, just trying to encourage them in the faith, and before we knew it they would ask to be born again. Just like that, they would chose Jesus. It was so beautiful, and so shocking at first, yet it made sense. They were so quick to choose Jesus because they recognized truth as soon as they heard it, they saw joy as soon as it entered their homes and they felt the overwhelming peace of our savior when His presence rested there. So to choose Him was not shocking at all, it was the only decision that made sense really. So there we were, just sitting in homes, sharing life with people as we shared truth with them. That's just like our Jesus.
On one occasion we were walking home from a house visit and we saw a group of men sitting under a shade tree on the side of the road. We decided to stop and talk with them for a bit. We began sharing the love of Jesus with them and before we knew it we were drawing quite a crowd. As we preached Jesus, people that were walking by kept gathering around us to listen to the message we were sharing. By the time we finished sharing the crowd that had gathered had grown to maybe more than 30 people, just sitting listening to the truth spoken under a shade tree on a dirt road in Rwanda. We prayed over each one individually and as we walked away I was literally in awe of what had just happened. If you haven’t connected the dots all ready…that's just like our Jesus. Remember how often He would gather crowds wherever He went just preaching the good news on the side of the road…yup just walking in the footsteps of our Jesus.
We also spent many afternoons in the house of the town prostitute just sharing Cokes together as we shared the love of Jesus with them. The tiny little living room that we all gathered in each time became so jam packed with my team and the prostitutes that would come to hear us speak, that many of them had to stand in the doorway just to hear the message. We listened to these women's stories about neglect, abuse, loneliness, desperation, etc. All of it heartbreaking, and as they spoke you could see in their eyes such sorrow and longing for true love to find them. They were always so vulnerable with us and so welcoming. They were so open and eager to hear our stories and our hearts as well. As we shared with them our stories of heartbreak, loneliness, and desperation their walls came down as they realized we were all just longing for true love and acceptance in this world. We shared with them the love of the Father and His heart for them, His precious daughters. We spoke truth over them, we spoke hope into the atmosphere and we spoke about the desperate love of their bridegroom for them His bride. As we shared His love with them you could see their heads lift out of a position of shame to a position of honor and hope. On one occasion we had three women kneel on the floor in the middle of that living room and accept true love for the first time into their lives. Such beauty from ashes in that place! That's just like our Jesus. To seek out the shamed of society. To enter into the homes of prostitutes. To love them, to bring them hope, to cover their disgrace with His grace.
We also had many opportunities to visit schools full of dear children, many of them orphans. We got to spend time loving on these precious little ones with all the love we had to give. It wasn't hard to do. They were filled with such joy, such life, such hope regardless of their lot in life. So many of them didn't have a mama to hold them when they cried or to braid their hair or tickle their bellies. So many others were infected with AIDS and having to live with that disease at such a young innocent age. None of them knew anything different than going without food most days and wearing the same worn through piece of clothing for probably weeks on end. Their tiny, rock hard distended bellies were undeniable proof of neglect and unavoidable malnourishment. Yet in the midst of their seemingly hopeless life they all radiated with such joy. They wouldn't hesitate a second before running into our arms as soon as we arrived. We had children hanging off of every limb and often two or more children on our laps at a time. We hugged them, held them, tickled them, sang with them, danced with them, laughed with them. We stepped into their lives for a moment and saw actually just how blessed they believed they were and they truly were. They knew their Jesus loved them because we loved them with His love. We let them run to us and when they did they were welcomed with open arms and unconditional love. That's just like our Jesus.
We got to truly be Jesus to all we came in contact with this month. It was absolutely beautiful. There are so many other stories of such redemption and reconciliation of the hearts of the lost coming into the heart of the Father. But I will leave you with a story of probably one of the most beautiful moments on the race thus far.
The house we were blessed to live in all month had a house boy named Patrick. House boys are actually a common occurrence in Rwanda. His job was to cook our food and keep the house clean and he got paid for it. We got to know him and build a wonderful relationship with him during our time there. We spent many evenings laughing with him, dancing with him and just loving him as a brother. He didn't speak much English so we couldn't really share too much with him, but by us loving him with the love of Christ all month he was able to see the heart of the Father. He had never gone to church in his life but one evening as we were getting ready to head out to our thousandth church service that month, we noticed that Patrick had decided to join us. We were beyond excited that he had the desire to finally go to church and find out what this Jesus thing was really all about. That he had come to that decision on his own without any prompting, it was truly the Spirit moving. During the church service my heart was throbbing and swelling with such joy as I witnessed Patrick’s soul come alive! He was up in the front of the church dancing and singing with such joy in the presence of our God! The Spirit was doing a work in his heart, tearing down the veil, and setting his heart free! My heart was overflowing with joy as I watched chains fall off and freedom released in front of my eyes!
When we got back home from the service that night we were all standing around the kitchen table getting ready for dinner when Pastor told us that Patrick wanted to be born again. All of us just stared at each other with mouths literally agape. Immediately we all circled around Patrick and joined hands in agreement with the Lords will for this chosen child of God. In an instant Patrick feel to his knees in complete surrender to His Savior and tears flowed freely down all of our cheeks as the presence of the Lord rested so powerfully in that place. In the middle of the kitchen floor, with 'family' all around, Patrick bowed the knee and opened his heart to His God and entered into the royal priesthood of believers. It was the most breathtaking moment I've been blessed to witness. That moment was seeped in the Lords glory and grace. To watch a prodigal son come running home into the open loving arms of His Father was a redemption story I will never forget. That's just like our Jesus. Welcoming His children home with such tender mercies that I have never known anything greater!
So, even though its taken me a few weeks to put into words my experience in Rwanda, I hope you all are blessed by the testimony of the Lords work in the lives of His beloved. He is truly pursuing His children with such passion and beauty every where I look. His heart is so tender towards the lost and the found together. He loves so deeply…That's just like our Jesus!
