Yesterday we meet our ministry contacts: Joseph and Mercy. We were welcomed into his home in Uhura Gardens, Southlands, Nairobi. They are a lovely family and we are blessed to be a part of his life for the next 3 weeks.
Our sleeping quarters are comfy cozy. 5 of us girls (Courtney, Aly, Sarah, Heather and I) are nestled together, along with the canopies of mosquito nets. I am delighted with the mosquito nets because I think it makes our room look like an indoor play area! Pillow fight anyone?
My latest love is Patience, Joseph and Mercy’s 3 year old daughter. She displays God’s characters. Yesterday I had so much fun with her and was enamored by her dancing, clapping, cheering, laughing, learning, squealing, reading, singing, and playing. She is so joyful and loving. There is no trace of fear in her, she is pure hearted and playful, open and loving. She’s pretty much my hero.
A book I was reading was talking about experiencing an intimate relationship with God and feeling God’s love. I was praying about this and encountered God through Patience!
Patience climbed up on my lap and hugged me, and with no hesitation pointed at my freckles, touched my eyelids and eyelashes, and blessed me with little kisses on my cheeks, forehead and hands. Patience is so sweet! I took this as a blessing from God… and now I’m thinking that Patience is also an example to me of how I can approach God – without fear, climb into His lap, and bless him with “kisses” – the Greek word for worship is proskuneo, which means to kiss. It’s crazy that God wants us to approach him like children with such immense freedom and expressed love.
The Kingdom of God belongs to the children and childlike (Mark 10:15,16). Thy Kingdom Come… thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Patience brought some heaven to me yesterday, and I hope to follow suit… maybe by sharing joy, peace, extending an open heart to care and love, conveying that each person are so valuable. whatever colour in God’s prism of light looks like in the moment, I pray God will shine that through me. And I pray that God will bring joy, encouragement and refresh the hearts of the people we interact with here (Philemon 1:7).
This month we may be visiting slums, helping out in hospitals, teaching in elementary schools, helping out in a hospital, doing some Administration work, talking with students at the Nairobi college, and providing food and clothes.
More to come … sneak preview: an upcoming post may include African dancing lessons.
