Wow, the Lord has just been filling me with His abundant JOY
recently and I can’t get enough. I find myself longing to simply be in His
presence and sing to Him the praises of my heart. Ah, I LOVE JESUS!
Ok, so let me give you a run-down of what’s been happening
the last few days. I found out my computer has a nasty virus on it (as you know
from my previous blog) and I had a mini internal freak out in the internet
café. I still don’t know what’s going to happen with it; I might lose
everything and my other hardware is probably infected with the virus as well
(USB storage device, external hard drive, camera memory card, etc.)… but it’s
all good. Really, it is. God brought me from a place of internal panic to a
place of peace in the timeframe of a few hours. PRAISE the LORD!
This is what ABANDONMENT looks like. I realized how much
dependence I had on my computer (I know, it sounds silly to even type that out)
and how much I had invested in being able to write thorough blogs, have my
pictures organized just the way I wanted, and respond to emails on gmail
offline any time I desired. What will people think if I can’t respond to their
emails? How am I going to meticulously blog about all the incredible things God
is doing without unlimited time on my computer? How am I going to get
everything done with once a week visits to internet cafes? What if I
lose all my pictures, Word documents (including electronic journals), and
music?!
In the midst of these questions, God brought me to a place
of simply surrendering to Him and saying, Oh
well. It’s going to be ok. God is more important. He needs to be my number
one and I cannot depend on anything else but Him. My worth comes from Him and
Him alone, not in how many blogs I post, pictures I have, or emails I respond
to. Welcome to a life of abandonment.
All I wanted to do when I got home from the internet café
was run away with the Lord; I simply wanted to spend time with Him and be in
His presence. Abandonment leads us to DEPENDENCE on Christ – and that’s the
best place we can be. When the Lord is all we have, we realize that He really
is all we need. Any experience that makes me trust in, rely on, or depend in
Jesus more is never a bad thing – it’s actually what my heart longs for. God
knows what we need – intimate relationship with HIM above all else! – and He
works all things to good (Romans 8:28). Praise Him for that!
As I continue stepping into a place of deeper abandonment, God is
meeting me with increased joy and life. Hmm, that’s a pretty good divine
exchange right there if you ask me. I feel like God is saying, “Jenny, give me
your computer (which stresses you out half the time cause you always feel
overwhelmed by how much you have to do) and I’ll give you abundant joy and
peace instead.� Sweet! Thanks God. It’s kinda like when He said, “Jenny, give
me all your sins and I’ll give you eternal life.� Whoa. I like God’s deals… I
think we make out pretty well. 🙂
So yea, God has been teaching me about abandonment,
dependency, and where I find my worth. Ironically, after losing my computer I
began experiencing more JOY than I have in a long time. Go figure. I don’t know
why this is surprising to me (since I’ve preached about this subject multiple
times before), but God is bringing me to new levels of understanding on this
trip. I’ve always enjoyed intellectually comprehending with my head, but now
I’m actually experiencing His truth and He’s allowing me to understand it with
my heart. Sweet! 🙂
After traveling to a number of different countries
throughout the years, I’ve noticed a theme in the people of God I come in
contact with. They have SO MUCH JOY. I strongly believe this is because they’re
not masked by everything we so often put before our relationship with the Lord
in America: technology, materialism, the list could go on and on. People who
don’t have as much materially are forced to depend on the Lord, and it’s in our
weakness and dependence that God is made strong. When we depend on the Lord, fully
surrender our lives to Him, and abandon everything else, we see Him working in
incredible ways. Deeper relationship with Him fosters greater peace, joy, and
abundant life. Yes, please!
So the last few days have been noticeably different for me
even my teammates have called me out on it. Joy is generally one of the fruits
of the Spirit the Lord allows me to operate in on a normal basis, but it’s like
I’ve been experiencing joy on steroids recently. I love it!
We’ve been going on village visits to new churches about 40
km away from where we’re staying and preaching/ sharing the word of God, giving
testimonies, praying for people, and fellowshipping with the community
afterwards. It generally takes around two hours on unpaved, crater-filled roads
to arrive and it literally feels like we’re on the Indiana Jones ride at
DisneyWorld the whole time – amazing! To make it even more exciting, the ride
consists of constant swerving in order to dodge ravines in the road, a variety
of livestock roaming the area (including chickens, goats, pigs, cows, bulls,
dogs, cats, etc.), and herds of other people walking, on bicycles, and in
vehicles all trying to share this narrow pathway. There’s usually nine people
sitting in a seven-seater car and on many of the bumps we’ll get some
legitimate air – especially in the backseat (which is my place of choice). It’s
quite the adventure!
Yesterday consisted of one such adventure. Throughout the ride I was simply listening to my ipod and
being taken away to another place with the Lord. He was bringing up different
people to pray for and just speaking sweet words to me – it was incredible. I
started praying about a word He might want me to share and right before we got
to the village I heard Him telling me to talk about the visions I’ve been
having recently and about the LIGHT of Christ; how we are called to live as children of the LIGHT (Ephesians 5) and that because the light (Jesus) has overcome the darkness, we can now live in that light and shine to the rest of the world (Matthew 5). A few different
scriptures instantly came to mind and I started getting excited about what the
Lord wanted to speak through me to these beautiful people. Light has been a
theme ever since we arrived in Uganda, and I felt like God was finally giving the
go-ahead to share about what’s been on a lot of our hearts this month.
As we arrived we were greeted in a way I never have been
before. It was incredible. There were women and children all dressed in white (like the LIGHT! This was part of my vision too… crazy!)
singing, yelling, clapping, and dancing for us as our car neared the village;
it was like we were celebrities. Some of them had palm branches and were
waiving them vigorously as they sang songs of welcome to their visitors. The whole crowd
then proceeded to run alongside the car for the next kilometer or so as they
guided us to the church and continued singing and welcoming us; some of the
women were up in their sixties but they were dedicated to making us feel at
home in their land. I have never seen anything like it. We proceeded to travel
through corn fields, somewhat plowing the way as we went, until we arrived at a
mud hut, thatched-roof church literally in the middle of a corn field. This should be on the National Geographic
Channel, I thought to myself. This is
incredible.
There were swarms of people all around us who continued to
sing, dance, clap, and welcome us with smiles, hugs, and handshakes galore. One
of the women took my hand, raised it high in the air, and started dancing and
yelling with me as we entered the church. There were others in there already and I
literally felt like I was entering the greatest dance party for the Lord I’ve
ever experienced. I was palpably hit with an overflow of joy, delight,
exuberance, and life as I entered that small hut; they danced with us all the way
to the front of the stage but it wasn’t long before Justin and I jumped off and
into the mad pit of love to dance with our brothers and sisters we had just
met. I felt like I was in a mosh pit of heaven as we all danced and sang our
hearts out to songs we didn’t even know but our Spirits resonated with. This is the kingdom of God, I thought to
myself.
I feel like I could talk for years about these experiences but words simply don’t do them justice. The presence of the Lord has been so sweet these past few days. Meeting people whose faith, hope, and joy in the Lord that surpasses anything I’ve experienced in the midst of pain and suffering is challenging yet humbling to say the least. The churches we’ve visited used to house members of the LRA rebel army only years earlier, and now they’re places of praise and worship to our King. That’s redemption right there. I can only imagine what these people have seen and experienced in their lives, and yet their faith in the Lord is unshakable. They know what abandon looks like. They have lived completely dependent on God. And they know what JOY in the midst of it all looks like as well. What a powerful testimony.
We were able to see some healings occur, some people come to the Lord, and some walls being torn down during these past few days of ministry. Praise God!! We prayed, preached, praised, worshiped, encouraged, and fellowshiped with one another. We are all soldiers for the Lord, people from every nation, fighting together as one body in the army of Christ. His light will overcome all the darkness and He allows us to carry that LIGHT into the world and SHINE for Him. PRAISE GOD! The LORD is at work in mighty ways and I am eternally grateful to be a part of His kingdom coming to earth. God is so good. 🙂
I love you all!! Keep SHINING for Jesus wherever you are!!
“You are the LIGHT of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives LIGHT to everyone in the house. In the same way, LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE before men, that they may see your good deeds and PRAISE your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
