I never knew it would be so easy to fall in love so fast. The kids of Seed of Love are just like any other kids; they love to play, they love to laugh, to joke, to dance. They wanted me to walk them to school, to wave goodbye to them as I dropped them off, and to give them a huge, running hug when they got home.
They’re just like any other kid. And yet they’re not.
They’re afflicted by HIV or they’ve been abandoned or abused. Or their story is even more colorful, but one thing is certain; if that child is living in that home, it is a miracle that they can smile. It’s a miracle they still want to laugh or that they want to do something as normal as climb trees or hang upside down from a jungle gym.
They’re so desperate for love and they love so well. I think I mentioned in my last blog how well they’ve been teaching me about how God loves us. By falling in love with them, their smiles, the way they just want to hang out with me, that’s God’s love to me. For some of them, they’re content to just sit in my lap. Wow, what a clear picture of how we should seek out God.
If all we desire is just to sit in God’s lap, to be with him as he goes about doing his God-business in the throne room, to be carried by him as he walks the streets of heaven, greeting the people of his city, can we ask for more? Is there more than that?
God says in his word that the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like the little ones he gathers unto himself. He calls his workers to care for the widow and the orphan because he cares about those who cannot care for themselves.
I can’t tell you how many times I had kids shout my name from across the yard, (T! L!) just wanting me to wave at them, just wanting me to spend some time with them. What an amazing picture of how we should be with God, of what our posture should look like. If we go through every day just craving his attention, just running to get in one more hug, just sitting with him, having him rub your back or drum lightly on your chest to the beat of the music, wow, that’s just so special. That’s what I want to look like. That’s who I want to be in the kingdom; someone who knows how accepted and loved she is. That when I look at my Father, I see someone who knows my worth and is ready to share with me just how much that is. Someone who is always ready to have fun with me or discipline me as need be, but always out of love.
He is a safe place for my spirit. He is working on shaping of my soul.
One of my teammates once wrote in a blog, “11 countries means 11 goodbyes.” She was right and our most recent goodbye, as far as ministry and the people we worked with, was the hardest one yet.
In other news, we’ve had a good debrief in a small town called Winkelspruit, South Africa, about a half hour’s drive from Durban. We were right on the Indian Ocean and it was just as beautiful, as fun-loving and energetic as I remember. We saw black jelly fish, dolphins, and out of the water there was a plethora of small gray monkeys.
My new team is made up of six members; Marah, Monica, Melissa, Ashley, Naomi, and me. Ash heads up this new, fearless team called FAB (Fellowship A-Blaze) and this month in Manzini, Swaziland we are working with girls who have been trafficked or endured a lot of physical, verbal, or emotional abuse. For obvious reasons, we will be using their “American” names.
So far, we’ve gotten to hang out with them for two days and we know there are sixteen of them and they love dance parties with Christian rap and weaving each other’s hair. I hope to get mine done soon. They are learning volleyball, already have a basketball team among themselves. I’m so excited to get to know these girls, to bring a breath of fresh air to this ministry; they have so much energy and affection for these girls, but everyone can use a helping hand to come alongside them. I’m excited to learn new things with my new team, I’m already in the nails-on-a-chalkboard uncomfortable place called growth, but maybe more on that later.
In summary, last month was exceptional and I’m so looking forward to this one.
Cheers,
TL
