This is Africa

AFRICA.

so many things come to mind….

a large continent on the other side of the world
the old-school commercials encouraging others to help feed the hungry children who live there
genocide
AIDS
a people in need
God’s people
beauty
stillness
hope.

My idea of Africa has changed as I explored the land there. I left home to an unknown place with little to no expectations. You see, I didn’t want to get my hopes up as I had on another missions trip I went on in the past. So I left without a clue of what I would see, how God would move and speak, and how I would be forever changed.

While there, the Lord really gave me a tunnel-visioned mindset of the “here and now”…the sentence “you are IN Africa” crossed my mind multiple times a day and I was grateful to God that He allowed me to come to this place and help serve these people. He also allowed me to not get so caught up with the questions of “what are You teaching me here? what am I supposed to take away from this trip?” but rather to live each day to the full for His glory and to serve the Oromo people whole-heartedly. Whether I was in the clinic performing malaria tests or checking expectant mother’s bellies to tell them how far along in their pregnancy’s they were …hanging out with the Smith’s girls…walking around the Langano compound…slaughtering cows or blowing up termite mounds…visiting patients in their homes and being served a meal…going to a funeral and attending a wedding, or simply fellowshipping with the team, I recognized a heart of thanksgiving and a heart of repentance within me. On one hand, I was thankful that God had allowed me to be born in America and to have the education and skills that I have in order to come to this poverty-stricken land to bring hope and help to a people in need. But somehow, at the same time, I was keenly aware of my own selfishness, of my own overindulgence in American culture, and my own idleness in the states of how I spend my time.

Returning home, I have found many emotions surfacing as they come in like tides of the ocean, with their highs and lows, never knowing when they may hit me. I awoke the morning after we returned and while I laid there, I was struck with the idea that I had just slept in MY bed that I own, in my air-conditioned Dallas apartment that I spend too much rent on…but that there were these images and smells that I couldn’t get out of my mind of the land I had just seen, the living conditions of the people there, the people and their hospitality, and of the medical help we were able to provide. As I thought upon these things, I felt the Lord speak His truth over me, that the God we serve is so much bigger than we can imagine, that He is so holy, and just, and righteous, and worthy of our praise. Even though my heart is torn and confused during this time of re-entry, I rest knowing that I will always have a heart for the nations now and I am so thankful for how the Lord has changed my perspective. He is worthy of our time and efforts. He is worthy to be served. He is beautiful.