Muddy living

After downloading some books by Beth Moore the other day, I started reading one tonight.  It was a Bible study I had done many years ago but in book form entitled Believing God.  Since that has been my struggle lately in a couple of areas of my life I thought I should read it.

I got the book barely started and this story of ducks playing in a mud puddle when there was a clean pond within sight caught my attention.  That is where I stopped and had an aha moment.

Let me try to explain the background of my aha moment.... since before the new year started I have been praying for God's guidance and direction in my life.  There have been some promises spoken during my quiet time with Him that I have been trying to figure out how they will be fulfilled.  There have also been numerous dreams that I am trying to get clarification on.  For whatever reason...the date of January 10th kept coming to mind when I sought answers so silly me thought there would be something in the line of direction given by this date. Well the day came and went and even though it was a good day... there were no answers... not a single one.

This got me thinking.... what if I tried my options and did things my way?  So for the past two days I have ben pondering how to get the ball rolling so that I can get what I want.  (Now that I just wrote that down it sounds very selfish...but I am being honest!).  I had come up with a couple of ideas and was going to start 'working on' them this week.  Which brings me to this evening... here is why the above story in the book convicted me...

Why am I going to settle on a muddy puddle when there is a clean pond just ahead?  Yes the muddy puddle is cool and convenient but the pond is clean and comfortable...clearly God's best is worth taking a few extra steps and waiting just a bit longer.  I understand this concept in the brain God gave me but my heart is acting like the little girl off of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory that cries...'but daddy I want it NOW!'.

One of these days God is going to give me exactly what I think I want but there will be consequences attached as I didn't wait on His timing and His best.  I am going to end up muddy and limited in my space where God desires me to have plenty of clean water to swim around in.

So for this moment I choose to wait on His timing and believe that He will provide answers when I am good and ready.  Until then I will put my ideas and plans to jump ahead of God into the muddy puddle in the trash.

Muddy living

After downloading some books by Beth Moore the other day, I started reading one tonight.  It was a Bible study I had done many years ago but in book form entitled Believing God.  Since that has been my struggle lately in a couple of areas of my life I thought I should read it.

I got the book barely started and this story of ducks playing in a mud puddle when there was a clean pond within sight caught my attention.  That is where I stopped and had an aha moment.

Let me try to explain the background of my aha moment.... since before the new year started I have been praying for God's guidance and direction in my life.  There have been some promises spoken during my quiet time with Him that I have been trying to figure out how they will be fulfilled.  There have also been numerous dreams that I am trying to get clarification on.  For whatever reason...the date of January 10th kept coming to mind when I sought answers so silly me thought there would be something in the line of direction given by this date. Well the day came and went and even though it was a good day... there were no answers... not a single one.

This got me thinking.... what if I tried my options and did things my way?  So for the past two days I have ben pondering how to get the ball rolling so that I can get what I want.  (Now that I just wrote that down it sounds very selfish...but I am being honest!).  I had come up with a couple of ideas and was going to start 'working on' them this week.  Which brings me to this evening... here is why the above story in the book convicted me...

Why am I going to settle on a muddy puddle when there is a clean pond just ahead?  Yes the muddy puddle is cool and convenient but the pond is clean and comfortable...clearly God's best is worth taking a few extra steps and waiting just a bit longer.  I understand this concept in the brain God gave me but my heart is acting like the little girl off of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory that cries...'but daddy I want it NOW!'.

One of these days God is going to give me exactly what I think I want but there will be consequences attached as I didn't wait on His timing and His best.  I am going to end up muddy and limited in my space where God desires me to have plenty of clean water to swim around in.

So for this moment I choose to wait on His timing and believe that He will provide answers when I am good and ready.  Until then I will put my ideas and plans to jump ahead of God into the muddy puddle in the trash.

Responsibilty

As I am laying here stretched out on the living room floor my mind is reeling over which topic to write on first...  so I think I will do the events of the afternooon and then will breach the topic of muddy living.

It is Sunday evening.... the day has been one filled with laughter, connect 4 matches, and singing of Bible verses.  At any given point of the day I have had 15 to 20 children on the veranda playing.  This is one day of the week that there are really no rules on when they can play. 

By the afternoon I get called out by one of the ladies asking why the older boys have the ball and I realized they had taken the little girls playground ball and were using it as a futbol.  First of all the boys were told not to take the girls ball as it is not made to be kicked as hard as they do and second the big boys had been told that in order to get the real futbol I needed permission from this particular lady.  (They had been dodging work to play futbol.) Unbeknownst to me a basin had gotten broken last night while these boys were playing and no one took responsibility.

When I pulled these boys aside and said that the basin needs to be replaced before the ball can be given out... the excuses started flying...I didn't do it... I don't have money...etc.  so I told them I don't care whose fault it was but responsibility needs to be taken if anyone wants the ball back. If money was an issue I am sure we had some digging  that needed to be done so they could earn the money.  If they were interested they could come by in the morning and jobs would be given.

The basin is only about 6000 UGX to be replaced or about $2.50 but it is the principle of taking responsibility for actions.  I desire these boys to be responsible young men who do what is right!

Everything you ever wanted to know...

about sending things to Uganda!!!

Providing mattresses, bed sheets, and
mosquito nets to Kenneth's family!

I have been overwhelming blessed by the number of people who desire to come alongside and help with the ministry here...  whether through prayers, encouragement, financial support, or school supplies.

Our goal is to provide the basic necessities to families in need and to give them the hope of Jesus!  We do this by providing education, medical care, and the message of salvation and that someone loves them within the village.

Instead of sending you on a wild goose chase through my hard to follow blog... I thought I would put all the links in one place so that any and all of your questions could be answered (I hope!).

As you are going through past blogs, there may be a line through some of the school supplies.  Even though these are crossed out it is an on going need as well as financial support for our building projects and sponsorship for our children (you can find children that need to be sponsored on my facebook page).

As the upcoming school year for Integrity Primary School starts on February 3rd... there are some goals that I have set for the upcoming school year...
Goal 1:  Make sure each teacher is equipped and provided for...  I am in process of going through supplies and preparing for each classroom as well as for staff development. (Our teacher's make equivalent to about $75 per month... and that is considered decent pay here in Uganda but it leaves very little room to buy much needed supplies out of their pocket!)  When we start we will have baby class, middle class, top class, P1 and P2... so 5 classrooms of little brown eyed cuties or about 120 children at this point!  Always need things like crayons, colored pencils, and other educational supplies.
Goal 2:  Set up a small library for the children to come and "check-out" books. I am looking for some library pockets to go in books so that the children can borrow them along with note cards and a date stamp.  Can also always use more children's books.
Goal 3:  Make resources that will last long past me being here... in order to preserve posters and other items we need contact paper and big rolls of wide clear tape.
Goal 4:  Finish writing all the policies and procedures along with the teacher and family handbooks.  One of the things I noticed to ensure security on campus is needing name tags for visitors or some sort of visitors pass.

So here are the links of previous blogs... this is where it all started... HOW CAN I HELP??
http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-can-i-help.html

After visiting Uganda and seeing first hand what was needed... this list was compiled...
http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/04/updated-needs-for-uganda.html

Some other ideas with putting together supplies for the classrooms...

 http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/10/adopt-classroom.html

http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/10/updated-needs-list.html

And last but not least... some ideas on how to assemble a care package...

http://hynangel.blogspot.com/2013/06/care-package-101.html

If you are planning on hand delivering items... check with the airlines on how much you can carry internationally as sometimes special exceptions are made when they know you are bringing "humanitarian supplies" to a 3rd world country.

Other ways you can help...make a financial donation to the ministry at https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/InTheFieldMinistriesITFM/donate2.html

Should you have any questions feel free to contact me directly.

Victories in battle

As I have sat here pondering how to even start explaining the events of the day , it finally hit me... we don't fight against flesh and blood but against the enemy in the spiritual realm. 

For the past few weeks I have been reading how when the Isrealites went in to battle ... if the LORD was on their side they were always victorious.  Even when Gideon's army was cut down from 32,000 men to 300 they still won because the LORD wanted the victory.

This post is not so much on the spiritual battle and war that is being waged over the hearts and souls of this village but on the victories that have been won today!  I will preface what I am about to say with this... spiritual battle is real and if you call yourself a Christian and have never experienced a spiritual attack or believe in spiritual battle I ask you to examine your faith.

After a couple of weeks of discouraging events... being told that I am being a distraction to the children by allowing them to play games or kick the ball around... being told that I need to stop spending time with the little brown eyed cuties so they can work... being told one thing in meetings but then the opposite taking place... and being blamed for not stepping up to do things that they were "expecting" me to do... I had just about had it and was ready to throw in the towel.  (This was exactly what the enemy wanted.) Anyway I have prayed about what God has me here for and it is these children so I am ignoring those trying to distract and focusing on what He has called me to. 

Today was to be the first Sunday of hosting children's church on the veranda outside of my apartment.  Long story short... the village church had a time for children's church but needed some assistance as the program was down to just a couple of children plus I was being a huge distraction to the entire church as the pastor felt like he had to preach to me in English leaving the others struggling to get the point of the message through a translator.  So the Pastor and I met about these things and I offered to start training some of the women in the church how to teach the children. 

So the victories of the day...

Children's church was to start at 10am... I had little ones at my window at 7am wanting my attention.  They were eager to get started andin aculture where everyone is late to have group of children ready to start before 9:45 was amazing!

We ended up having 20 children come to children's church not including those across the road slowly doing their chores of getting matoke so they could hear the bible lesson and not get in trouble for not working.

Jen (the girl from Another brown eyed cutie story)  had told me earlier in the week that her parents weren't allowing her to come because she was Catholic... she was so broken hearted about not being able to come... so yesterday Hannington and I walked to her house and talked to her dad and Jen came to tell me this morning that she will come every other Sunday to children's church here and the other Sunday's she will go to Sebanda to the Catholic Church.   She was so excited!

Hannington and I were also able to discuss with the families about why we are here as a ministry and that we as a community need to work together.  It is not my goal to distract the children from work but to encourage them to finsih their work in order to come play... the issue came down that the children weren't telling me the truth about being done with their work.  So we came up with a solution and all is good!

So I am counting these victories as blessings and reminded that spiritual battles are not fought on our feet but on our knees and that we aren't called to go into battle alone!  Thank you to the prayer warriors in my life that help in waging war!  You are appreciated!

Fearfully and wonderfully made

As today is the first day of a new year and many women (and men for that matter) set losing weight as their top new year's resolution.. I want to challenge you with this idea.

Recently a friend posted how her 6 year old daughter was already making comments about her body image and that to hear this from a mother's heart was devastating.  This got me thinking as to what our culture is teaching our girls. 

I grew up with the mindset of thin is in and that no one would really love you unless you were 'perfect'.  Needless to say I struggled for more years that I can count with all of the negatives about my body along with a food addiction.  For generations American women especially have strived to starve themselves...try every diet known to mankind... and when these aren't enough going under the knife to sculpt the body to perfection.  Not really going into who is to blame but what we as women can do to fight this cultural espionage so it doesn't continue to destroy our young girls.

Currently I am living in a cultural where big is beautiful and where 'fat'is a complement rather than a jab.   To be known as 'fat' or 'big' here means that you are provided for.  Men are not looking for skinny women as they are not able to produce babies and be strong enough to work digging. Honestly it has taken me time to get used to some of these remarks as it still stings to be called fat even though it is said with tones of admiration.

So as the battle wages on the western front to be thin... I want to challenge each mother, grandmother, aunty, and woman  that you are perfect the way God made you...thick or thin... short or tall... Your body was meant to serve a purpose and we should be working to keep it healthy not a particular size.  Stop wasting money on diets and pills and start investing in living intentional lives.

My body may not fit into my cultural norm but it has done some amazing, powerful things and has the potential to do more.
...these legs have carried me across the finish line of the Honolulu marathon and up to the peak of Mt. Sinai.
...these arms have rocked countless little ones to sleep, have comforted numerous hurting friends, have carried loads of brick, rock, and firewood, and have played games of teeball, football, and catch with some of my favorite little ones
...these hands have made blankets, scarves, scrapbooks, and a variety of other handiwork to pass on to others, have written notes of encouragement,  and have provided pats on the back for a job well done
... these feet have carried me more places than I have room to mention, have walked many miles with friends just talking story, have danced praises to my Lord, have stood firm as an advocate for ones with no voice
...this body may one day carry the life of a child... or have to support an aging parent... or have to walk hand in hand with the one I love down the beach at sunset.

I want to live a healthy life so that I am able to do these things and so much more.  There is a world of possibilities that our bodies are capable of and this is the legacy I want to leave  ... not an obsession with the number on the scale or a particular size.  The goal is to eat healthy and exercise regularly to feel goodmand be happy.  The girls in my life will know that they are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image.  We are unique and special and the God of the universe desires to use you.

Another brown eyed cutie story!

All of these little brown eyed cuties are very dear to my heart.  Since all the children are home from school for the holidays I am getting to meet more of the older siblings.  One of these children is 10 year old Immaculate Jenifer N.  She is the older sister to some of the little brown eyed cuties at Integrity Primary School.  Her family lives across the road from where I live and her family has one father and  a couple of mothers so I am really not sure who are true siblings and who are half siblings or cousins.

For the past several evenings we have ended up coloring or playing games on the veranda while talking.  Yesterday she came to my apartment twice during the day... she always calls me to the door by saying..."come to the door and open it so I can show you the surprise I have for you"... very articulate young lady! So the first time she came bringing mangos and then the 2nd time to bring dyed reeds for the mat I am making.  Earlier when she saw the mat... she told me it was the best one she had ever seen...

This morning as I was making breakfast she again came to the door with new year greetings  and a surprise... the surprise was a hand written letter in a hand made envelope.  This is what the letter said...

Dear Angella,

Praise the Lord our God.  It's nice that we have successfly completed the year 2013 with God's protection.

I, Immaculate, am very glad to write to you thanking you for the things you do for us like- giving us bop it, colours to shade, Jenga, etc.  May the Lord reward you.  I conclude by wishing you a happy new year's celebration. 

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Your loving friend,

Immaculate N.

She also gave me a color picture where she drew me as her best friend.  Will have to post the picture as it is a great representation of me!  You can truly see the hearts of these children and how truly dear they are to my heart.