“Humility and the fear
of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.” Proverbs 22:4
When I’m out on the field
encountering joyful souls daily, I see how this verse is completely
true. Often times I spend my afternoons with children and families
who have close to nothing, but they do have something- they have joy.
The past couple of weeks in
Uganda we have been working with Cornerstone Ministry. This is a
church full of people who may not come with a lot of physical means
but with much love and praise for God despite the season they are in.
A lot of the families are faced with disease such as HIV, going about
everyday in pour health and very little food or shelter.
As I said earlier, they do
have something still: they have deep relationships that they
treasure. They treasure the love they have in each other and the love
they have in Christ. The church here does lie outside of the
building, they ignore the physical walls of the building; people here
nurture each other and fellowship outside of Sunday and Wednesday
services. That’s not to say I don’t this at home, I do but I see it
here in everyone.
Cornerstone Church does
everything they can to support their members, whether than means with
food, shelter or school fees. They are always trusting that God will
bring in enough money for them to pay bills and support the
congregation. I’ve seen the small amount of shillings that enter the
offering plate and there’s no way it should support as many people as
it does. Because they trust our Father to take care of their needs
their money manages to meet many family’s needs.
I know many missionaries I
run into face hard times when people don’t offer up financial support
and I know many families have a hard time making ends meet. I think
we need to continue to die to ourselves and realize the money we have
was God’s first anyways, that means we need to give back to HIM! He
doesn’t even ask for much but always proves that when we trust Him,
it’s managed well and goes a lot farther than it would in our own
pockets.
“Do not wear yourself out
to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at
riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly
off to the sky like an eagle.” Proverbs 23:4-5
It’s easy for us to get
caught up in the life style of money for me, riches for me. Rather
let’s be open to see what God can do when we give up our earthly
riches to Him. Let’s desire to be rich in joy and abounding in love.
I think a simple life focused on the King of Kings is the richest of
all. I’m blessed by Him to be in Uganda and to be reminded of the
fact that my riches are in heaven. Thank you Jesus for a taste of
that on earth. You are good!
P.S we’ve spotted TOMS in
Uganda. (internet was too slow to upload the photo) Last year when I lived in Nicaragua I lived with a family for a
week and my little sisters had TOMS. This made me want to support
that cause even more. Now, here I am in Africa and on our lunch break
at school we spotted some precious children wearing their little
black TOMS. So awesome! (When we give, others receive.)
