Loving a Child

Well… I made it!  After over 24 hours of travel on those oh-so-comfortable plane seats (note HEAVY sarcasm), I am here in Uganda.  The past two days have been exhausting, physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Yesterday was hard.  Being so tired and achy, it was hard to see the beauty that God was building up towards.  God, thank you for giving me 2 Corinthians 12:9 last night.  Your power is made perfect in my weakness.  I despise being weak, but to know that You will use my weaknesses for your glory, makes things a lot better.  God, continue to bring me peace.  It hurts to think of not seeing my family again for three months, but I know that you can ease that pain.  Remind me that you are there; that you are the best parent ever.  Help me to see these fellow Christians as family, my family in You.  Use this time to build up my strength in You, as well as build up my personal independence level.

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Today was AHH-MAZINGGG!  Ohmygoodness, God, thank you for today.

Today was beautiful.  A beautiful Sunday spent at Return Ministries International.  Our team started out the day with a church service like I’ve never seen.  Worship here in Uganda is such a beautiful thing.  There’s so much passion and joy in their singing, something that is not always so common in the typical American church.  Pastor Samuel preached from Psalm 68:5-6:

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.  God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

 Pastor Samuel talked about how orphans are not only those who are fatherless; those without God as their Father are also orphans.  He talked about the disintegration of families through “men wanting to be women, and women wanting to be men.”  He talked about the importance of family; how family and a relationship with God go hand-in-hand, and without God, and a father who gives glory to God, families fall apart.

After the service, we had time to play with the kids.  There are 15ish kids that live there at Return, but children from all of the community come to Return’s daily activities and programs.  These children are more desperate for love than any I have ever seen.  They come up to you and hold their arms up, asking you to hold them.  They give you hugs and kisses and cling to you from all sides.  After a while of greetings, I pulled out my nail polish and was quickly mobbed by several dozen kids, girls and boys, all wanting the attention and color of a fresh coat of pink paint.

Next was lunch.  Pastor Samuel asked us to serve the children their food, and we quickly got to work.  Workers stood at the front, behind huge vats of rice and beans.  We stood in line to receive plates, which we then passed out to the children.

After seeing the conditions in which the food was being served, truthfully, I wasn’t too crazy about our turn to get our plates.  However, that food was amazing.  Best plate of rice and beans ever. J

The last few hours of the day were spent singing and dancing with the kids.  First, they performed for us; singing, dancing, and playing the bongos.  It was beautiful.  Afterwards, they called us up to dance with them.  We sang and danced and even taught the kids a couple songs.

Leaving was a heart wrenching experience.  The kids all wanted hugs and pictures.  Olivia, a girl that was clung to my hip most of the time, was sad to see me go… I gave her a picture of me I had in my bag to remember me by.

Children chased our bus down the road for a good half mile, waving and yelling “BYE!” the whole way.  People waved to us on the streets, cracking jokes about us “muzungus."

It was a beautiful day.  Thank you, God for rejuvenating me with a good night’s sleep.  Thank you for renewed excitement and joy.  Thank you for giving me the peace that I’ve needed so much.  Thank you for children.  Thank you for being the Ultimate Father.  We may have a father figure, or none at all, but nothing compares to the love that you give.  Thank you for being a father to the fatherless and a protector of widows.  I pray for these children that we were able to love on today.  Give them your fathering love.  Put these lonely children in homes.

Thank you for teaching me so much today.  Giving so much love to these children was so surprisingly fulfilling.  Singing and dancing with the children, praising you with passion, I am overwhelmed with your works.  Thank you for drawing me near to You through these children.  Thank you for your amazing ways of bringing glory to you through the simplest things in life; like loving a child.

P.S. I reallllyyyy tried uploading pictures... but it's wayy too slow... hopefully later:/