In the middle of praise and worship all the kids came into the hall and quickly got their chairs placed and began praising too. Well, almost all of them, I was looking for Brenda and didn't see her. I got a little anxious because I knew today was the last day that I was going to get to see her and I was worried that maybe she wasn't able to come. Eventually she meandered through the door and managed to find me and proceeded to stand with me. She grabbed ahold of both of my hands and we stood there together and sang.
Eventually my songs of praise turned into prayers of praises. I stood there with her hand in mine thanking God for letting me have time with her this month, for awakening in me a desire to rescue children from their lives on behalf of Him, for giving me the opportunity to let her experience His love when she was with me.
It came time to hear the word and we all took a seat. There were probably two minutes that transpired before Brenda was peacefully asleep. There wasn't a sound or move or stroke I made that aroused her from sleep. Over the month I asked the Lord to make me a safe place for her, a place that she wants to seek out because she knows love is there; He answered me today.
When service was over I gave Brenda her school uniform. (Kids can't go to school without an uniform here. They are allowed in the classroom with no shoes, but if they don't have on the right uniform, they can't get in the door. Once I heard this and found out Brenda was Kindergarten age I felt immediately compelled to get her uniform for her before I left Kitale.)When I gave it to her I told her, "Here, this is all yours and no one else's. It's so that you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up." She just stood there and smiled and eventually she timidly spoke. She said she wanted to be a pilot when she grows up. I told her I would love to fly on her plane some day and she told me that I could. My heart overflowed.
A while back when I was in Malaysia the Lord revealed Psalm 78:1-8 to me, it states:
"O my people. hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things
from of old-
what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their
children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders he has
done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,
so the next generation would know
them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their
children.
Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
They would not be like their
forefathers-
a stubborn and rebellious
generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him."
Since He revealed that to me it has stuck with me in the back of my mind. My prayer is that I have not hidden anything from her. I pray that she knows that the whole reason I gave her a uniform is because the Lord told me to love on her in a specific way. Giving her that uniform means that yes, she can go to school, but it also says, God sees purpose in your life. He has something for you. Something greater than you could ever imagine. It means that I realize she is the next generation and that it is imperative that she starts out knowing that she has value so that she will never forget what He has done for her when she thinks about her first uniform. It means that I know she's going to change history with her life.
But in order for that to happen, and for her to see all of this, I had to be obedient to how God asked me to love her. I had to be obedient to the call and "utter the hidden things of God" through the time I spent with her.
Just letting her sit in my lap and rest without any conditions attached to receive my love uttered God.
Making sure to find her across the yard so that I could tell her how pretty she looked that day uttered God.
Swinging with her in the afternoons after painting and letting her speak Swahili to me even though I had no clue what she was saying uttered God.
Buying her a uniform so that she can experience life being educated so that she can change the world utters God.
We are called to utter God to children, called to love them and help them grow, to show them that God has great and mighty things that He wants to use them for.
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 says:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength.
These commandments that I give you today
are to be upon your hearts. Impress them
on your children. Talk about them when
you sit at home and when you walk along
the road, when you lie down and when
you get up. Tie them as symbols on your
hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the doorframes of your
houses and on your gates."
I pray that you are obedient to God's call to unveil Him to your children through your utterances.
