One year and nine months ago I arrived in the country of Kenya with 14 other people. We did ministry at several places, but the one that won my heart was working down at the IDP camps. We would go down once a week, hand out food, and visit each and every tent. These people were squished together with barely any room to grown their crops, they were living in trash, but amidst all of that they were some of the happiest people that i had ever met.
The girls of that camp were the ones that really won
my heart. I had the opportunity to gather them together with several of my teammates and just be able to pour into them, tell them who they are in Christ, speak life into their situation, allow them to ask ANY question that they might have, and most of all just LOVE them to death. So, every week we would meet. At first most of them didn’t even know each other… but they began to learn about one another; they began to pray and encourage one another, and they began to be a part of each other’s lives.
But after 3 months we had to leave.
Now, one year and nine months later the Lord has allowed me to come back to see the place that my heart broke for. As I walked into the camp for the first time, my girls immediately saw me and ran towards me giving me the biggest hug ever. I cannot even tell you how happy that I was. As I sat with them at the church service I was amazed at how passionate and in tune they were at the service. They were the ones that got up and shared with the whole congregation, they were the one’s leading worship, and they were the ones that were speaking of God’s provision and love for them. They even met altogether after for a youth service! Gosh, I was like a proud mama.
As I was sitting there I was just watching them interact, laugh together, play together, I remembered the first time we got them all together and how they didn’t even know each others names, and I almost started crying… it was because of the things the Lord did one year and nine months ago amongst them that they are still meeting together, pouring into one another, encouraging one another, confiding in one another, and trusting in the Lord together. I could not have been more proud of them. And I am just reminded about the Lord’s faithfulness and how He takes such good care of His children.
One year and nine months ago, the Lord wanted me to bring together girls and teach them how to be a community, and now today they are still doing just that. I am no longer leading them in discussions, but they are leading themselves! The Lord has brought them together to be able to rely on one another; He has made them a community and that is EXACTLY what i wanted from the beginning.
I believe that these girls have the power to change the world! And after seeing them again I know that God is still at the center of them and He is going to use them for some powerful, Kingdom-minded things in Kenya. And i am so thankful that I get to be a part of that.
