In Uganda, the main native language spoken is Luganda. If there is one word that I can take with me from being in Uganda, besides the most common one we heard (“mzungu” meaning white person), it would be suubi. Suubi means hope.
During our month in Uganda, our team served at the Suubi House, a ministry focused on serving and empowering families of physically disabled children. On days of ministry at the Suubi House, we played games and had different activities for the children, gave moms lessons on physical therapy for their children, held bible study for the mamas and taught them how to bake. On other days, we had the opportunity to serve at several different ministries from feeding and loving on babies at a baby orphanage, gardening and organizing the library at a school for the deaf, playing with children at a school for the physically disabled and helping to teach math, science and English to street boys.
The Lord blessed me big while serving in Uganda. Our host, Sarah, gave me the honor and privilege to lead bible study for the mamas of Suubi House. These beautiful women are some of the mothers of children with physical disabilities (pictured below: Diana, Mama Cathy, Mama Peter, and myself).
At first, I was nervous of not knowing how I could lead a group of moms into bible study who have probably gone through a lot, let alone in Africa with a language barrier. I didn’t know how or where to start. So, I prayed and left that up to the Holy Spirit (which led me to buy some of them a bible in Luganda). As I began our study focused on marriage, I quickly learned about their cultural view of marriage and their personal marital struggles. It broke my heart!
Although some of our conversations were tough, I knew I had to keep pressing in and pouring more encouragement into them. Eventually, I shared parts of my testimony. I shared the hard stuff. The lies I believed and the truths that set me free.
Each day I reminded them of these truths. Reminding them that they have a purpose and neither their past or present marital problems defined them. Reminding them that they are royalty, daughters of the Most High King and their stories matter. From day one, I had hope as I could see the hunger for the Word in each od these ladies’ eyes.
Towards the end of our time at Suubi House, I could see that they gained my trust and opened up about some of their hardships, even some of their hopes and dreams. Dreams of having their children completely healed, owning their own business, having their marriages restored and having enough money to send their children to school. These ladies stole part of my heart and I was sad to leave them. I wish I had even just one more week to pour life into them.
Leaving them was hard for me. Not only because I knew I may never see them again or because I questioned whether or not I had made an impact in their lives, but because I felt in a sense that I could’ve done more for them. I felt as though I could’ve given them more.
In my time of rest during debrief (last week), the Lord reminded me of several things. He reminded me of the reason and time He’s called to be there in Uganda. I was not called to be a superhero or to fix things. He called me to love and to serve His people the same way He’s loved me.
So, when I was asked a few weeks ago to do a devotional during our squad debrief, it was only appropriate that the Lord had me share from Matthew 25:14-30, a spiritual truth about how Jesus entrusted each of His disciples with a responsibility as He left them and how they each used them. Through this devotional, the Lord reminded me that it’s not about how gifted we are or how small our assignments may seem to us, but how faithful we are with the gifts He’s entrusted us with. Whether our assignments are big or small, it is BIG and they matter because every single person that has been impacted by the name of Jesus counts.
This was then when I was able to recall a moment during our women’s bible study, when one of the moms opened up about her marital struggles and the positive impact our study had on her marriage. I was also reminded by my team about more fruit from our bible study time. We were told by our host that one of the moms stopped attending church for an unknown reason. Within our last weekend there, she was asking about going to church with us and actually showed up that Sunday morning. Praise the Lord!
I was reminded that God gave me the opportunity and called me to such a time as this (Esther 4:14). A time to pour life and love onto these ladies. A time to give them the gift of hope. Though I left feeling broken hearted and like I could’ve done more, the Lord kindly reminded me that He hasn’t left Uganda. He will keep working in these ladies and their stories will continue.
As I have begun month two of my Race, I am taking these lessons and reminders the Lord has taught me. Yes, I may have only had a small part in the lives of these ladies and I may never completely see the fruit of it all. But the hope and love I have given to them will last a lifetime. So I praise and thank God that I was given such an honor to give hope to these mamas. He created me for such a time as this!
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 NKJV
