Heaven Will Be Clean…

One of my greatest struggles in this life, and especially as a believer in Christ, is that I have a deep desire for things to be “clean.”  I want everything to come in a neat package, issues resolved, ready to just be enjoyed. This is most evident in me when I examine my own life…I have told many of my friends I just want any issues I have to be completely resolved, to be done. I don’t enjoy the process of fixing. I’d just like to skip ahead to the resolution. Here I would love to simply encounter someone hungry and make sure that they are always well fed. I want the sick to just be completely healed. Cleanliness. Resolution. But God is changing a lot in me here…

 

One means God used to change my heart is my “little sisters” in Uganda. They are 3 beautiful little girls named Doreen  (13),  Immaculate (10) and Bridget (7). They are all very smart, speak English well, driven and love Jesus. They are great kids… so I asked if they’d be my Ugandan little sisters. 🙂 I could tell early on Doreen had a lot of responsibility at 13 but as I got to know the 3 better, they told me more and more about their lives. It wasn’t until the day before I left Uganda that the 3 told me their whole story. I was walking with Doreen and Bridget when we came across Immaculate who was very sad. When I inquired all she would tell me was that she was hungry. I bought us some bananas and we headed back to their home, a small room with 2 beds. Immaculate was still very sad so I asked Doreen if I could pray for them in any way. The 3 all began crying as Doreen said they missed their dad. Their mother has lived in Kampala (hours away) for a year and their dad was out looking for work and hadn’t been home in a long time, from what I gathered. He sometimes sent money, but sometimes the girls had nothing to eat. My heart was broken for these little girls.They were so loved by God, but they were hurting so much.

 

I realized at the time that all I could do was pray for them, tell them to pray always, give them some bananas and and remind them that if they needed anything to go to the Pastor’s house. What they needed was a father though. So I did my best to point them toward our Father who can help .Likewise,  we have been encountering a lot of people in situations that are just…well, messy. Samuel, a 21-year-old we spoke to a couple of times here in Kenya, lost his aunt and is having a lot of trouble moving on. People here are sick and hurting. The reality is that life is very messy. At times I didn’t like that at all. I  wanted to come here and “fix” something. But we can’t…we’re people.

 

But God is revealing a lot to me…. A lot about why we’re here.The fact is nobody on my team has anything to offer these guys…but we have everything to offer, because we have the Source of everything. We have God. And God has provided us to these places to wade with people here through the mess. To love them through it, point them to Him, help them out. We sent me to Doreen to do so. He sent my friend Shelby to Samuel to do so. The fact is that I don’t think life here has a total “resolution” to all the mess. But we have each other. We encourage each other, bless each other and point each other toward Heaven. toward Him. Because He has the answers, not us.  He alone can work with us on one thing and then another and then another. He can solve the problems. And someday, all the problems will be completely resolved. This place is messy…but Heaven will be clean.

 

 Continue to pray for us in Kenya…God is doing awesome things here! Really, helping a lot of people out of mess, and into His loving arms. We are in a town called Bungoma for 2 weeks. Pray some difference is made, by Christ, through us, in us and here!