Greetings to All,
Yesterday marked 3 months being here in Nkhoma, Malawi, 3 months, and right now, Dec seems a long way away. At times I wish it was sooner. We have learned much, with so much more to learn. We have seen and heard from those in need, and, with your generous donations, have been able to offer help. Thank you! Yet, the call of Christ in Malawi seems too big for us. We have come to realize that with the strength and ability a person has, we can only power through so much. We need God’s heart, vision, and wisdom.
We have seen suffering, the lack of life’s basics and the lack of professional resources to do a job, the lack of being able to care for your family, the lack of ability to buy medicine, and the lack of being able to care for the sick, the lack of furniture, the lack of clothing and lack of shelter, the lack of plumping and no end in sight of lacking daily sustenance.
2 Corinthian’s 1:10: “…in God we have our hope.” We have had to realize that we cannot do this on our own strength and initiative. The chance to demonstrate the Love of God in Christ Jesus, God’s compassion and comfort, God’s call to be ministers of reconciliation…. we can only do this with Christ working in and through us. We have no ability to do without God’s doing within us and through us.
We had a chance to be at Lake Malawi April 1st. It was our first weekend of being out of the village for some R & R. It gave us time to reevaluate, find renewal, and reprioritize. 2 Corinthian’s 1:3: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort.” We need this, and so do the people of Malawi.
May God be with you in the midst of your needs, providing gifts of compassion and comfort.
Deb
Easter Blessings to You All,
Our getaway at Lake Malawi a couple weekends ago gave me a chance to shift from overdrive to neutral, …and it was a shock to the system, provided time and space for some spiritual inventory. Take-aways: part humbling, part sobering, part disappointing, and, with Deb’s reading aloud 2 Corinthians 1:3 (above), part remembering, part healing, part inspiring.
Thankfully, God is all-compassionate, a comfort in times of discomfort, like being out-of-balance.
Three months ago, I hit the ground sprinting here in Nkhoma–preparing lesson plans each night for two seminary courses, preaching a couple of times, hosting guests for weekly meals, creating posts for the Facebook and web site pages, attending several worship services each week and Sunday evening fellowship gatherings, balancing personal expenses with giving as much kwacha to as many people and organizations in need as possible, playing frisbee with children and youth each Friday after school, and, of course, exercising.
Then, at the lake, with the shifting sand (not quite the sinking sand of On Christ the Solid Rock), God got my attention and impressed upon my heart and mind that perhaps I had left God in the dust in my rush to dig in and begin helping out however possible.
Friends and family have offered words of empathy, encouragement and even some good advice: take a deep breath; it isn’t about you, it’s about God using you as an instrument of God’s grace & purposes; God cares, God is merciful; God will equip you, God is at work through you and through the people of Malawi, God will sustain you and use you according to God’s good plans.
Prayer: O God, may your will be done. Fill and guide Deb and me here in Malawi, our family and friends and supporters at home, and all your beloved children created in your image. Thank you for your compassion and comfort. Amen.
Chuck
Like
Comment
Share
I feel the stress you and Deb must be feeling. I am an A type personality and find that I jump in with both feet and then the whole body wishing/wanting to do so much more. As others have said take a deep breath or two or three and know you are in our prayers.