Our ministry time in eSwatini is underway, week 1 here is in the books. We have been assigned to one of the care points that is farthest away from where we are staying and who have not had visitors since before Covid. At this care point over 250 children are fed a hot meal everyday during the week once they finish school. Our daily routine begins with a 90 minute bus ride to our care point location and upon arrival we lead a devotional with the staff there. After we finish our devotional time we then head out on prayer walks to the local villages. During these works we get the chance to ask the Holy Spirit to come and intercede on behalf of the people, country and land that we are serving in. If we encounter others along the way we get the chance to share the gospel with them, pray for them and overall take time to show them Christ like love. This past week we were invited in to a homestead where we were able to pray over a woman who was injured and ask the Lord to heal her, I am grateful He promises to be working even when we do not get to see the immediate fruit. Shortly after we return from our walks the kids start to arrive, the middle schoolers first and shortly after some of the highschoolers show up as well. While they are there we spend a few hours playing rugby, frisbee and whatever other games we can think of. They love to sing and dance and use us as human jungle gyms, after week 1 I think my record is 6 kids fully suspended off the ground at one time.
I have learned so much from spending time with these kids so far but most of what I have learned has been around the topics of joy and love. These young children who have much they are needing for instead replace that with an overwhelming and contagious happiness and excitement for life that I have not encountered in a long time. They have begun to show me how love truly should be and what Christ like love really looks like. For starters their environment and outside circumstances have no influence over their inner peace and desire to show love to us. They have every right to be sad, burdened and discontent yet they show us so much love, curiosity and desire to be in relationship with us. This is how I think we should all be loving Jesus and seeking relationship with Him. It is easy to seek Jesus when we have all of our basic needs met and are living comfortable lives, it is also easy to beg and plead for His comfort and provision when we are need. But how often are we, in either circumstance, filled with an outpouring of joy simply to be in His presence? Not motivated to praise His name for the blessing we just received or by the need that is going unmet but simply just to know Him better and get to spend time with Him? The same thing applies to our earthly friendships and family, how often are we seeking to show them love without also desiring advice or help from them in return? These kids LOVE to just be with us. We aren’t giving them anything or “buying” their love and we aren’t really doing anything to remove most of their struggles we are just there and present yet they want nothing more than to spend time with us and show us their love. All of these principles apply to time spent with our friends and family as well as with God. How often are we spending time with them just to express our joy and love for them? I think we could all learn to love Jesus and our friends more this way, in the everyday regardless of our outward circumstances.
Something else that has been revealed to me during my time with these kids is how much they need to be protected and shepherded. The Lord expressed to me that they need to be taught what the source of their joy is. Life as a child is not full of responsibilities or burdens, but as we all know life doesn’t stay that way. As they get older there will be more obstacles to face, others that depend on them and occurrences that will attempt to rob the joy from their hearts. However if they know the foundation and root of their happiness, the source, they will stand a much better chance of retaining it when life comes at them hard. This applies to people of all ages as well. I think that many people in the world are unhappy because they do not know their identity in Christ or that He is the source of their happiness and peace. It is only when people are firmly rooted in who they are in Christ that they can face the trials of this world and maintain the heart that the Lord has given us as a child filled with joy wonder and excitement for everyday life. Kids are so precious and must be protected at all costs but so should teenagers, young adults, and everyone else. Hopefully as we live our everyday lives people will experience some Christ like love and that will open the door to sharing what our source of our happiness is and give testimony to the work that Jesus has done in us and through us.
Finally, a quick update on what the Lord has been doing in my heart about patience. I was reading Mark chapter 6 where the beheading of John the Baptist takes place. As I was reading this I noticed that all of the negative actions that took place towards John were done in haste. Herod’s stepdaughter comes in “immediately” and “with haste” to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Then Herod “immediately” sends for the guards to bring him his head. This all happened despite just a few verses before it saying that although Herod was perplexed by John he listened to what he had to say gladly. The Spirit revealed to me in this passage then when our desires make us anxious or make us feel like we must move on something immediately it is most likely not from the Spirit. The only thing the Spirit has ever called me to do promptly is share the gospel because salvation for others is of the utmost most importance and the Lord will use whatever we do in that realm for His good. My take away from this is that when I am anxious or feel like I need to act immediately I should actually pause and seek the guidance of the Lord. His work will be accomplished with our without me and He will always be with me. We serve a God that is a gentleman He won’t ever force us to do anything. Anxiety, guilt or shame from inaction are not emotions that come from God but from the evil one. I am learning to take time, be patient and seek gold counsel when I making decisions until the peace of the Holy Spirit is resting on the situation.
