My team and I are staying in Nelspruit, South Africa on a beautiful compound surrounded by forest and fields of grass, the setting is really something out of a dream. The organization we are working with, Iris ministries, runs a orphanage here, there are about 20 children who are divided into groups of 7 and live in beautiful houses run by a house mama and house papa. The first couple of days had been pretty chill, we played with the children, worshiped with them, sang with them and for the most part it all felt peaceful and blessed. This morning was different.
As I sat around the the table to eat breakfast with my team and the other team we are serving with this month we were told that a girl from our squad's mom had passed away and she was on her way back to the States. I sat at the table, tears streaming down my face, completely heartbroken. I had just spent a joyful month with this squad mate and now she was headed back home to such sorrow. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens,…a time to laugh and a time to mourn." ( Ecclesiastes 3:I,3,4) I began to think about what it would be like to lose a parent and I started to cry more, if I could take away her pain and put it on myself I would, but I can't , so instead we pray and pray and pray even more. That was not the only thing different about today.
Later on we were outside playing with the children when I see my team leader Richard running down from the gate with a bucket of water; a wild fire had started blazing just outside the fence of the compound!!! In the States we would wait for the fire department but in Africa we are the fire department. Some stayed with the children while the rest of us began to fill up pitchers, trash cans, bottles and pots with water, the men in our teams wrapped their faces with wet shirts and headed into the flames to try and extinguish the blaze or at least keep it from reaching our home! Whether out loud or quietly we all prayed to our God. Yea!!! It is gone or at least we thought it was………………………………two hours later we were up again filling up pots and running towards the flames! Praise God! This time it is out and has been since! As we stand around one of our teammates says to our ministry contact, "we should pray for rain" the contact stands under the sky that does not have a cloud in it and says " I don't have enough faith to pray for rain". Well we prayed any ways and we went to bed under a clear sky only to wake up to a cloudy one that brought us rain!!!!! 🙂
All these events have caused a mix of emotions that really left me at a loss of how I was suppose to feel or what I was suppose to think but in a way only He can do the Lover of my soul reminds me that He is the same through all these things. He is still good. He is still faithful. He is still merciful. He is still gracious. He is still loving. He is still all those things and He has always been and always will be! He also reminds me of one truth that makes my soul smile and heart swell, " My beloved is mine and I am His" Song of songs 2:16
As the seasons of life change for us it is easy to think of God differently if we allow circumstances or emotions to shape our view of Him, don't! Don't rely on those things because they always change, rather look to His word and who He reveals Himself to be there and when life goes up or down you can rest in Him being the One constant in life.
" Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." Hebrews 13:8
