Restorer of Streets to Dwell In

So much is going on here. Funny things and big things and scary things, but God is good. You know I could give you a long tutorial on what has happened the past 3 days, but that in my opinion would be a waste of my time and yours. Instead I will share what the Lord is doing in my heart.

We arrived in Uganda and just like when I went to Malawi some years ago, I was struck by the poverty that surrounded me, the sickness, dirtiness, and filth. When we arrived some of the things we had were a little bit different than what we expected. My human heart was honestly a little bit angry. I was frustrated about the situation. We went and ran errands today to gather things we needed and I was tired. Call it jet-lag, but I just wanted to stay in bed and sleep. As we drove around the streets I looked out the window thinking, “what have I gotten myself in to?” We passed little children wandering around in tattered clothes by themselves because their parents can’t afford to send them to school. We saw many people bargaining what they had to offer to try to make a living for their family. We saw people who have been through more than I could ever imagine and as we passed them I didn’t even see them.

Greed. I’m realizing how much this is apart of my life. I’m humbled and broken before my Lord. How can I be frustrated about the few little luxuries I don’t have when I’m surrounded by such poverty. How can I feel anything but gratefulness when I get to purchase items that many here will never have available to them. I stood before my God like a little girl with tears in her eyes because she is missing that one piece of candy at Halloween. 

I am selfish and greedy at times. I am broken and humbled, but I am also a new creation. The Lord didn’t point his finger at me and say you are no longer my child. He didn’t condemn me to forever being a greedy selfish person. He said I love you. Let me show you how I want you to love others. Let me show you how I want to change your heart to one of love. Let me help. 

I am far from perfection, but I know the one perfecting my faith and I am certain he will take this job to completion. Wherever he leads me I will follow. When he needs to mold me I will be moldable, and when he needs to use be I will be usable. Perfect I will never be, on this earth. Humbled with a servants heart is all I can hope to be. Pray for me to be continually humbled and for my heart of love for these people to continue to grow. 

Here is a little bit of the Lord’s message to me tonight it comes from Isaiah 58.

“Cry aloud, do not hold back, lift up your voice like a trumpet, declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of righteous judgements; they delight to draw near to God. 

'Why have we fasted an you see it not? 

Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it?'

Behold in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. Behold you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord? 

Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of the wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke, 

to let the oppressed go free 

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry 

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him 

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer, you shall cry and he will say “Here I am.”... If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guard you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.”

• Isaiah 58: 1-12

I go to HUMBLE tomorrow for Church and start serving there on Monday. Please pray also for rest and readiness for the weeks to come.