Our internet has been limited for the past few months, so our blogs are often not posted when written. The timing may be off a little!
I am so excited to finally tell our friends and family about our home in Swaziland. We are located in Mbabane, which is the capital of Swaziland. Our ministry for the month is volunteering at an orphanage called El Shaddai ministries literally tucked away on the top of a mountain over looking one of the most scenic views I’ve yet to see in my lifetime.
As you journeyed with us last month, you were aware of the difficulty and hardship we experienced in Mozambique. Now being where we are, I see this beautiful illustration of the Lord sending us to the desert for a time. We were thirsty. We were thirsty for water and even thirstier for the Lord. We struggled, but we persevered. It was a monumental month in our marriage. It’s a month I never want to repeat but a month I will not forget for as long as I live. It pushed us to our breaking point, and we won’t ever be the same. We spent those days in the desert, unsure of what the Lord was doing and why he sent us there.
Now, as I sit here and write to all of you, I look to my right and out the window is a breathtaking picture of rolling mountains with lush green grass, budding trees and flowers, rivers and waterfalls, and an explosion of life that is beyond description. As silly as it sounds, the moment we arrived I thought, “The Promised Land.” Thank you Jesus! You were protecting us and keeping us throughout each moment of doubting and you have brought us to a land of abundance. We had no idea what to expect of Swaziland and had mentally prepared ourselves for a repeat of last month. Here we are, though. The weather is cooler, we have showers, sinks, and even beds to sleep in. What used to be basic is now luxury to us and thus my word for this month is abundance. I feel the Lord’s abundance everywhere we look, and understand his unwavering hand on our lives in such a new, refreshing way.
Isaiah 55 was a passage that identified so much of what we were feeling and experiencing transitioning from Mozambique to Swaziland.
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money,
Come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
Because of the Lord your God, the Holy one of Israel for he has endowed you with splendor.”
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
Declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish,
so that is yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
So is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty
But will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of the briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.
I’m ready for what this month brings. I’m ready to bask in his creation and goodness on top of these rocks on which he’s placed us. Along with other projects such as painting, building a fence, volunteering in the baby house and others, I will be blessed to be able to see patients in a fully stocked clinic! They have informed the community that a nurse is here for this month and we will hold open clinic twice weekly in order for me to be able to see patients and care for them! This brings my heart so much joy! I was able to do some nursing work in our first month, but not much since then, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity! Evidence of the Lord’s work in my life last month is my new approach to treating patients. As you read in John Michael’s blog, we saw God move in big ways. He was actually able to see a woman healed of her pain! We serve a powerful God who is waiting for us to tap into the power he’s bestowed upon us. I no longer hope, but expect to see people healed in this clinic. I know God is able, and I’m no longer scared to ask.
I’ll close for now, but I anxiously await the stories we’ll share with you of the way the Lord moves this month. My prayer for you is that you also will experience the abundance God has waiting for each one of us when we are ready to accept it!
More updates to come soon hopefully!
