My time here in Rwanda has been slow. (In case you have not caught that drift from previous blogs or comments I have made in emails.) If you know me at all, you know how much I can’t stand sitting still. I get it from my Dad-I have to be busy, preferably productive, and I can’t help but always think about “what comes next.” A few days into our stay here, when the realization of having no control over things (such as what we will be doing, when church starts, if dinner will be at 7 or 10, if I will be preaching or asked to pray at the drop of a hat) actually hit me, I had to make a choice. I could choose to complain (which I have done, and still do from time to time!) worry and try to take matters in my own hands, or let go and trust that God is in control.
I picked the latter.
Then I got to thinking that no matter where I am or what I am doing in life, God is still God. “I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14) Why, then, can I trust Him so easily while I am living in the current “missionary” occupation and not when I check off the “student” or “teacher” box back home? Why don’t I get upset if I am asked to do something that I am uncomfortable with because I am in Africa, but freak out when a situation come up in Springdale? Why does serving and trusting God look different when I am back home than it does here on “The World Race”?
It shouldn’t.
I have no control over how many hours it’s going to take to get 5 miles into town in Rwanda, so I take a deep breath and choose not to let it bother me (sometimes even laughing the entire time at how ridiculous the whole situation is). So that means I have no control over the traffic on I-540 when I am going to Target, yet I refuse to take a deep breath and let my frustration and impatience get the best of me.
I trust that when I am asked to preach the word of God to a church packed full of people that I have never met that God will still move. So that means I should trust God will still move when I am home and my friend needs to hear about how much grace and forgiveness Jesus has for them, yet I avoid conversation in order not to stir up anything uncomfortable.
I know that God has awesome things in store for me and my team on the upcoming days, even when not one of the previous has gone according to the schedule. So that means God has awesome things in store for me, like where I am going to live, and where I am going to teach when I get back home, yet I still keep myself up at night worrying about it.
Why? Why do I think that the amazing, all powerful, redeeming God is different back home than He is here in Africa?
He’s not. He is the same. The Alpha and the Omega. He is unshaken, perfect and Holy. He died and rose again so that I may live and be free. Free in Christ, in ALL occasions and circumstances.
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” -Galatians 5:1
(Lake Victoria; opening to the Nile River.)
No matter where I am in this world.
