After leaving the refugee camp, we were blessed with the opportunity to encourage fellow believers at a village church not far from the South Sudan border. What I learned is that church for Ugandan believers (from my experience) is community, and the community is the church. It is life, and they do it together. They gather in community to cook, eat, fellowship, learn and worship together.
Time isn’t measured by the minutes ticking away on a clock, but rather by the moments spent together with one another. Back home, most often, church starts promptly, ends promptly, and is confined to certain hours of the day and days of the week. But, not here! Here, church can last all day! AND IT DID!
We arrived that morning to a community of people already gathered under a huge shade tree. I stepped down out of the van with expectations of how the day would go. I thought it would be a church visit where we introduce ourselves, visit with them for a bit, encourage them, and be on our way. Routine…predictable…and completely wrong! When I stepped down out of that van, I not only stepped into a church and a community, but I stepped into the presence of our Mighty God! He crushed the box I had put Him in and gave me a sweet glimpse of who He truly is!
I wish you could see, feel, and experience that day. Some of you may have experienced this before, and you understand. But for those of you who don’t, here’s my best attempt at describing it for you.
As we unloaded from the van, we were immediately greeted with huge, sincere smiles and handshakes. A lady named Grace introduced herself to me in English, and we became instant friends.
She and I sat and talked and then joined a group of six women who were sitting together on a large straw mat. Immediately and without hesitation, the women asked if I had any words for them. Words for them? No, I had not prepared anything.
As I sat across from them not knowing what to say but seeing their eagerness to listen and learn, I began by simply praying. “God, thank you for this opportunity to share. Please speak through me and have me say what You want these women to hear. Remove my words and replace them with Yours.” I grabbed my bible while continuing to pray for God to give me something…anything really.
And…He did!
He led me to Matthew 9:37-38, “Then He said to his disciples,”The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
They listened intently to these verses. We discussed what this meant to us as followers of Christ. We are the laborers, and the world is the harvest. We must be ready and willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus. There are so many who have never heard what Jesus has done for them, and it is our responsibility to share it with them.
Sitting there on that straw mat, I reminded the women that the hills and villages surrounding them was the harvest. I encouraged them to be strong in their faith and go out and labor together. I could see both excitement and hesitance in their eyes. One of them spoke up saying, “We would like to do that, but some of us don’t see well or read well. How can we do this, if we can’t even read the Bible for ourselves?” Yikes! Good question!
I’d never thought about this before. Who was God to people who couldn’t read? Is He a different God to them than He is to me? Of course not! Does what He did on that cross for us rest on the ability to read? Of course not! That just sounds silly. Ok God, then what should I tell them?
I thought a moment and gave them some practical advice like having some of the youth volunteer to read the Bible to them. This would keep the youth busy and out of trouble, and give them the opportunity to care for and visit with the widows in their community.
Good idea…But not enough! Then the Lord reminded me, “Remember the discussion you had with Karen (squad coach) earlier in the month.”
The discussion was on the Bible becoming an idol to people, and how people can put more importance on the Bible itself than on their relationship with Jesus. I wrestled with this for weeks. The Bible is important! You should read and study it. It is the inspired Word of God. God uses it to speak to us and teach us!
All true!!!
But, at that moment I realized…GOD IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN THE BIBLE!
It is not about how well we do or do not read, or how well we do or do not see. It is about believing and living in the freedom that what Christ did for us on that cross IS ENOUGH! Having faith that His grace is sufficient and IS ENOUGH! Go and share that with your neighbors! Such simple and freeing words for these ladies. You could see the burden of inability lift and joy take over.
These women were such a blessing. Their big, beautiful smiles made me smile.
If the day had ended here, it would have been enough for me, but it didn’t! That was just the beginning of God’s work for the day. After lunch, the service started. Uche and Joseph both preached. And, I am not kidding when I tell you this, they both preached on the very passage that the women and I discussed. How cool is that?
I sat there in awe! All five hours of it…in awe! God was reminding me, “I am here,Taryn! I am always here! I have always been here! I will always be here!”
When I prayed that morning asking God to give me words for the women, I had no idea what He was about to do! Uche, Joseph, and I had not talked beforehand. It was not possible for them to have known what I would say to the women because I had not known what I was going to say or that I was even going to speak.
God reminded me of my prayer at the beginning of Uganda, “I want to feel Your presence like I feel the wind. I want to hear Your voice like I hear the wind. I want to see You move like I see the wind move through trees.” On this day I saw that prayer come alive!
Near the end of the service, the entire congregation was asked to pray. As the prayers strengthened, the wind grew stronger. As the prayers softened, the wind softened. Someone prayed for rain, and we literally watched the rain roll in. I stood in silence, smiling, completely in awe! I could feel Him! I could hear Him! I could see Him! He was there! And this was church!
