If someone a year ago had told me that I would be in Africa now, I probably would have laughed and said “yeah, probably not Africa” and yet here I am. The thing is, we have absolutely no idea what is best for us but God has it all taken care of. It all comes down to a matter of trust.
This issue of trust was unearthed well before I left for this trip. You see, raising over $5000 is kind of a daunting task for a part time, teenage employee and because of who I am, I would stress about this issue a good deal. God kept trying to tell me to just trust that He is big enough but I’m stubborn and so I continued to freak out about it as if any of it was in my control. However, God works inspite of us and therefore, I got all that I needed financially and more. Lesson one.
Well clearly I hadn’t learned my lesson so, lesson two: When we finally got to the airport in Entebbe after hours and hours and hours of travel, I found out that my bag was still in Atlanta. Cool. Oh well, it was supposed to be in the next day, no big deal. One week later I got my bag. Excitement, immediately followed by the realization that my tent was missing and that parts of my bag had been ransacked! Cool. Well if you don’t learn to trust in God for contentment in this situation and to provide your needs you’re probably going to lose your mind.
The thing about trusting God is that so often we make God out to be as small as the little box that we like to put Him in and because of that, we don’t believe that He has us in the palm of His hand taking care of us. But just take a quick step back and look around, look at the rolling mountains of Uganda, or look into the radiant smile of a hundred African children , ecstatic just that you are there, or look up at the stars on a clear night completely unhindered by the lights that block our view back in the states; if you look at these things, you’ll see that our God is plenty big. So yes it’s corny but literally, just stop in the name of love. Stop worrying about every little thing as if you have the power to change these things because you don’t. God does. And He is calling you out, telling you that He loves you enough to have your back in everything.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
