Our God is a God of abundance. A God of extravagance. Even the little details of creation are examples of that! Its incredible! He doesn’t just throw things together, he designs intricately. Not just creation, but in our lives as well.
Even the hardest things in life are intricate designs of His love.
When I feel that God has taken away from me, or carelessly hurt me, I can remind myself of this truth. When he takes something out of my life, it is an act of his love and grace fully. He is sovreign over my emotions and cares for my best so much that he is willing to hurt me in the process. He’s sovereign enough to see my heart over my temporary feelings.
THAT’S AMAZING!
In my last post, I wrote about Christian.
There’s more 🙂
So God healed Christian’s ear, restored his joy, and showed him his love.
But God offered me a chance to do more. To show Christian God’s abundant provision.
Throughout the month, I kept seeing small painted signs that said “jumping castle for hire” with a phone number listed below. I kept thinking, “Wow God, wouldn’t that be amazing to do?!” I remembered a time at training camp where Bill Swan mentioned how some people on your team might come up with crazy idea- like having a jump house in the middle of Africa! And how the logical people on your team would likely bring them back down to earth and explain how that wouldn’t be possible.
The more I saw the signs, the more I began to dream with God. “What if, God! What if these kids could have a jump house in the village! They would see your extravagant love! They would know your abundant love for them! It would be a Christmas they would never forget!”
So… I called the number on the sign. My team all jumped on board with the idea as we pooled our money together to make this Christmas miracle happen!
On Christmas Eve, we walked into the village excited about what we had to bring. After a few hours of trying to find electricity close enough to connect to the jump house pump, and watching kids accumulate in the area by the hundreds, the jump house was inflated and ready to go!
As I carried Christian around on my shoulders, I brought him over to the jump house. This little boy who was always pushed to the back of the line, hardly got any food, and had no parents to call his own or care for him, WOULD jump first. I went to set him down and he wouldn’t get onto the jumping castle. One of the older kids told me he was scared, he didn’t know what to do. As we pulled him up onto it and began to show him how to bounce, his timidity faded. He began jumping and smiling like never before all by himself up on that jumping castle like a prince of the most high king!
I will say that the day got a little bit crazy shortly following this sweet moment… just imagine HUNDREDS of African children trampling the Azungus (white people) and flooding onto the jump house! Meghan broke out her field day mom directions, Rachel got out her pen for marking the hands of those who had already gone, and I broke out my basketball “box out” hips as I held the masses of kids back so that we could keep them going 10 at a time.
Two days later, I went back to the village with Emily to take Christian to buy shoes.
I was introduced to the Aunt that Christian was living with. His mother had died and they didn’t even know who the Father was, so he was taken in by an aunt with 7 children of her own, leaving him to be mostly neglected, rejected, and cared for least and last. We began the walk out of the village, but Christian started to slow down very quickly. I jumped him up on my back to give him a piggy back ride, but we realized really quickly that he had never been carried this way before! He hung awkwardly low on my back and could just barely grab my shoulders with his hands. We tried to show him how to hold on better for the long walk, but quickly realized that he was used to being carried in a Shetenge! This is a piece of fabric that the women here strap their babies onto their backs with. No wonder he didn’t know to hold on!
As we finally made it to the shopping center, Christian began bouncing and smiling. We walked into the clothing store and went straight to the shoes! The first ones he picked out were shiny black dress shoes :p But we ended up picking out together a pair of converse type of shoes that worked perfectly for him and could be worn all the time. With a high five and a smile, we headed over to the clothes! This part was so fun! We helped him pick out a few shirts and shorts that he really liked. He loves wearing red!
When we got to the register, he of course saw the candy there. I immediately thought of how I WAS THAT KID! The one who always would see candy at the register and beg my mom for it! So I had to say yes 🙂
After shopping we went to the grocery store, where we walked all through the produce section, letting Christian pick out any fruit and vegetable he wanted to try! It was so fun! We then went to the back to buy him a hot meal, which he picked out the rice and roast beef. We got him some juice, a toy, and a few other things for his aunt, and started our journey back to the village.
When we got there, his aunt offered for me to see the house. I could not believe the way this little boy was living! The home was nothing but a pitch black, dark square of concrete. He and the 7 other kids slept on the floor of a tiny sectioned off room, and the mother lived in the other with a nothing but trash and a filthy mattress. She called the other area the “kitchen”, but it was nothing but a few empty buckets used for water.
It was in that moment that I realized even in what I had done for Christian, it would never be enough. He needed Jesus, not me, and so did the whole family. God was the only hope in meeting all their needs and taking care of them. All that I had done became so dim as the reality of this family’s circumstances hit me.
It began to hit me all over again, that LOVE is all that matters. Us carrying God’s love, not any sort of love that we mustered up on our own.
God’s love didn’t call me to be perfect or to fix all the problems in the world, but it DID call me to love as I’ve been loved.
That is so much easier than we make it though!
So I dropped the groceries and gifts and asked the aunt if I could just pray with her. I realized in praying that God was the one working, God was the only one who could change hearts and circumstances, and GOD was the only hope. Not some white girl. I was simply the hope bringer of the day, or of the month!
So what places is God asking you to simply be the hope bringer of the day? The love carrier for that person overlooked at work?
Love is not near as complicated as we make it, and neither is following Jesus.
JUST LOVE.
That’s what he did for you, and if you’ve accepted him into your heart, that love changes your life!
So just love as he first loved us.
LOVE in extravagance.
