What do you think of when you think of me? Am I sipping champagne, enjoying the streets and arts of London, surrounded by dozens of children that come up to my waist, organizing a closet, or singing show tunes while doing the dishing?...well next week I will be CAMPING…yes that’s right, sleeping out under the stars, washing my hair in a river, making sure scorpions are not hiding in my shoes, and canoeing down an African landscape…oh and did I forget ministering to teenagers!!! Yes the Bryna you know is about to embark on a not-so-normal adventure. I know I’m not quite the sporty camping type but I am ALWAYS up for new experiences. This may be my first time sleeping in the wild…on the ground…in a sleeping bag. PLEASE pray it doesn’t rain!
A few weeks ago I was asked by a local church here, Christ Church Kenilworth, to join them on a youth canoeing trip down the Orange River. My roommate Caroline is also going, as well as another friend Sam (we will be the female leaders)…so the thought of joining them for this adventure sounded like fun. We leave early Sunday morning and drive to Namibia (9 hour drive away)…for some of you that don’t know, Namibia is one of the countries just north of South Africa. The Orange River flows between these countries, along the border. We camp at base camp on Sunday night and then head off down the river Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday…we paddle during the day (I think the WHOLE day…only stopping for lunch)…then in the evening we find a spot along the river and set up camp. The canoes are two man canoes and I have been told to find a man/boy with BIG muscles to be my partner as its quite a long day…the bummer is that there are more girls coming than boys…thus I have a feeling that I may be paired with a skinny teenage girl. PLEASE pray we don’t float down the river and loose our group! The thing I’m most looking forward to is the weather. Namibia is much hotter than Cape Town at the moment…as we are still experiencing so much rain. I guess we wear our swimsuits all day…which sounds DIVINE. My white body, which left Tacoma in June, before the summer sun, arrived in CT at the height of winter which is still lingering on…so I am ready for a TAN! Yes of course I will take photos…and tell you all about it when I get back.
We certainly serve a God of surprises….here I go….
September 26, 2008
September 17, 2008
Sidewalk Sunday School
[This is a letter written for a group of friends that went with me in May 2007 to Metro Ministries in New York City. Metro runs the largest Sunday school in the nation, ministering to over 20,000 kids a week. We participated in a week long ‘boot camp’ to learn how their ministry works. I have recently been connected with the team here in Cape Town that run Metro Africa.]
Dear Boot Camp Teammates!
I have thought of you guys many times over the last month, as I have been reconnected with the Metro family. Can you believe it was nearly a year and half ago, that all of us were sleeping on a cement floor and learning about Sidewalk Sunday Schools in New York City! Since then, Hen & Harry have had baby Luke and are now in Uganda, Dan & Michelle are married, Aimee quite her job at the bank and is teaching and working for the church, Susanne started Sidewalk this summer in Tacoma, Shavon is getting married this weekend…and here I am in South Africa! Time flies and Jesus is so strategic and faithful!
The couple that started Sidewalk Sunday Schools (SSS) in Cape Town is James & Janet Senior, originally from England and friends of Bill Wilson. They currently have 7 sites around the city…and James has an incredible vision to believe for 100 sites over the next 10 years. Each site has about 100-400 kids that come to here about Jesus. Metro Ministries has only two international locations, South Africa and the Philippines (I’m surprised there isn’t more). I asked James if they have had lots of Americans coming over to visit or volunteer with Metro here and was amazed to learn that I was the first! The team is made up of all South Africans, almost all of them from the local townships (which is fantastic!!!). James told me that Metro came and did a training with all the South African workers about a year ago and the guy who taught them was LEO (remember him…hint hint!).
Because SSS takes place outside, the ministry takes a break in the winter months, just like NY (just so you know it’s been winter here and we are coming into spring)…this past week they started back up. Saturday I was able to borrow a car, and head to my church Khanysia, where they have recently started up a site in the past year. I was told that it was much smaller than the other locations…but was amazed to see about 100 kids there! SSS was meant to start at noon and go until one, but typically African…there was an unexpected delay. A funeral was taking place outside of a home across the street and they asked SSS to delay their program as the music is quite loud. My new friend Asanda who is on staff with Metro, is the site leader for this location…he told me that the kids begin to arrive at church at 9:30am, and he even had some kids knock on his door at 7:30am (!)… they were so excited for SSS to begin!
When I arrived the parking lot was full of kids, and after finding out that we needed to wait…I didn’t hesitate but did what I love to do best…talking with kids, giving them hugs and encouraging them! I was so amazed by how much English they understood. I had heard the following week that SSS was primarily done in Xhosa, the native language and I was worried that language would be a barrier for me…however I was pleasantly surprised. At one point I was laughing because universally kids love the same things…here I was in a South African township, chatting with a group of girls about High School Musical and Hannah Montana! While sitting in the dirt we began to sing songs from the movie…laughed and joking until finally an hour later at 1:00, we got the go ahead to begin. Boys and girls ran to their designated tarps as they anticipated the fun to come.
After a brief introduction, which included the rules and reasons, the music got loud and the kids and leaders broke out into the Chicken Noodle Soup dance!!!! I couldn’t believe it. This was the song we heard all over NY that they kids loved dancing to…and now I was in a township in Cape Town, surrounded by 100 local children watching them do the same dance…thankfully I knew it too! Tears rolled down my eyes in joy that I was there…a year and a half ago I would have had no clue that I was going to be dancing to the Chicken Noodle Soup song in Cape Town!
I had to leave early due to the fact that I was borrowing a car, so had to miss half the games and the talk but the time I was there filled me with joy for the rest of the day. I look forward to seeing what my involvement looks like in the weeks and months to come. If it’s just sitting on a tarp with a few kids on my lap I will be happy.
Dear Boot Camp Teammates!
I have thought of you guys many times over the last month, as I have been reconnected with the Metro family. Can you believe it was nearly a year and half ago, that all of us were sleeping on a cement floor and learning about Sidewalk Sunday Schools in New York City! Since then, Hen & Harry have had baby Luke and are now in Uganda, Dan & Michelle are married, Aimee quite her job at the bank and is teaching and working for the church, Susanne started Sidewalk this summer in Tacoma, Shavon is getting married this weekend…and here I am in South Africa! Time flies and Jesus is so strategic and faithful!
The couple that started Sidewalk Sunday Schools (SSS) in Cape Town is James & Janet Senior, originally from England and friends of Bill Wilson. They currently have 7 sites around the city…and James has an incredible vision to believe for 100 sites over the next 10 years. Each site has about 100-400 kids that come to here about Jesus. Metro Ministries has only two international locations, South Africa and the Philippines (I’m surprised there isn’t more). I asked James if they have had lots of Americans coming over to visit or volunteer with Metro here and was amazed to learn that I was the first! The team is made up of all South Africans, almost all of them from the local townships (which is fantastic!!!). James told me that Metro came and did a training with all the South African workers about a year ago and the guy who taught them was LEO (remember him…hint hint!).
Because SSS takes place outside, the ministry takes a break in the winter months, just like NY (just so you know it’s been winter here and we are coming into spring)…this past week they started back up. Saturday I was able to borrow a car, and head to my church Khanysia, where they have recently started up a site in the past year. I was told that it was much smaller than the other locations…but was amazed to see about 100 kids there! SSS was meant to start at noon and go until one, but typically African…there was an unexpected delay. A funeral was taking place outside of a home across the street and they asked SSS to delay their program as the music is quite loud. My new friend Asanda who is on staff with Metro, is the site leader for this location…he told me that the kids begin to arrive at church at 9:30am, and he even had some kids knock on his door at 7:30am (!)… they were so excited for SSS to begin!
When I arrived the parking lot was full of kids, and after finding out that we needed to wait…I didn’t hesitate but did what I love to do best…talking with kids, giving them hugs and encouraging them! I was so amazed by how much English they understood. I had heard the following week that SSS was primarily done in Xhosa, the native language and I was worried that language would be a barrier for me…however I was pleasantly surprised. At one point I was laughing because universally kids love the same things…here I was in a South African township, chatting with a group of girls about High School Musical and Hannah Montana! While sitting in the dirt we began to sing songs from the movie…laughed and joking until finally an hour later at 1:00, we got the go ahead to begin. Boys and girls ran to their designated tarps as they anticipated the fun to come.
After a brief introduction, which included the rules and reasons, the music got loud and the kids and leaders broke out into the Chicken Noodle Soup dance!!!! I couldn’t believe it. This was the song we heard all over NY that they kids loved dancing to…and now I was in a township in Cape Town, surrounded by 100 local children watching them do the same dance…thankfully I knew it too! Tears rolled down my eyes in joy that I was there…a year and a half ago I would have had no clue that I was going to be dancing to the Chicken Noodle Soup song in Cape Town!
I had to leave early due to the fact that I was borrowing a car, so had to miss half the games and the talk but the time I was there filled me with joy for the rest of the day. I look forward to seeing what my involvement looks like in the weeks and months to come. If it’s just sitting on a tarp with a few kids on my lap I will be happy.
"Where are you from?"
I must confess that over the years, in different seasons of my life, I have struggled with an identity crisis, questioning “Where am I from?” In one’s life, where we are ‘from’ can easily label us…and that can often be a good label or a bad label, depending on where we are in the world and who we are talking with. Spending significant periods of my life in various locations has often brought confusion to this perceived easy question.
When I was in high school at the American School in London, we knew not to ask where someone was from…rather we asked where did you last live? Many of my fellow students did not have a single location they called ‘home,’ for many of them had lived in a variety of cities around the world, rarely spending time in their native country.
Here in Cape Town, when someone asks me where I’m from, I of course say Tacoma (or Seattle)…for that is the city of my childhood, where my family currently lives and where I have last resided…however, I do not feel like Tacoma holds the fullness of my identity. For many of you know, part of my heart belongs to London. For those that want to learn more about me, I share about moving to London at the age of 14 and staying there for 4 ½ years, then moving back to the States for 4 years to attend university in Seattle, and then back to London for 3 more years to obtain my Masters, and then back to the States for 2 ½ years…back and forth between cultures at different seasons in my life! Will I ever plant my feet in one place? To be honest I love the moving around, for each location change has been strategic for what the Lord wants to teach me and those he wants me to come in contact with. Granted I am still single, so in moving I am not yet thinking of a husband and kids…hopefully that will one day change? (Amen to that!)
It’s been fascinating being an American many miles away from ‘home’ and learning about how we and our country are perceived oversees. I definitely grew up hearing how the Brits perceived us (I’ll save that for another story), but it has been fascinating to learn how we are viewed in Africa. To some we are seen as do-gooders, people with hearts of compassion who come over to this continent to help and serve…to others we are seen as incredibly wealthy (which in many ways we are), leading glamorous lives and mixing with celebrities…but to others we are seen as arrogant and selfish, thinking of our own political interests. Making cross-cultural relationships wherever you live is so important. When we are vulnerable and real with each other, stereotypes and cultural walls begin to break down. Wrong perceptions can destroy potential friendships!
Right now all conversations about the States are wrapped up in politics and our upcoming election. I have been amazed to learn that many Africans are more on top of my presidential campaign than I am! (Actually that probably doesn’t surprise many of you, as I could freely predict the Oscars or Tonys, but have no clue what is going to happen in the polls!) I have been asked over a dozen times by random people here, “Who are you going to vote for?” It always catches me by surprise for I was always under the inclination that that is a private and personal question. It got to a point one day that I was so frustrated at being asked who I thought the next president was going to be that Rene, my housemate, told me to just smile and ask them back “Who will be the next leader of South Africa?”…they too will be coming up to elections soon and are in desperate need of change…and an appropriate leader for the time. So who do the Africans want for our next president…well, I’ll leave that to you to guess??
In closing, I find the most peace in knowing that my eternal home is with Jesus. Even if I’m culturally misunderstood and feel at times that I don’t fit in…I am completely accepted and understood (even in my complexity) by our loving God!
When I was in high school at the American School in London, we knew not to ask where someone was from…rather we asked where did you last live? Many of my fellow students did not have a single location they called ‘home,’ for many of them had lived in a variety of cities around the world, rarely spending time in their native country.
Here in Cape Town, when someone asks me where I’m from, I of course say Tacoma (or Seattle)…for that is the city of my childhood, where my family currently lives and where I have last resided…however, I do not feel like Tacoma holds the fullness of my identity. For many of you know, part of my heart belongs to London. For those that want to learn more about me, I share about moving to London at the age of 14 and staying there for 4 ½ years, then moving back to the States for 4 years to attend university in Seattle, and then back to London for 3 more years to obtain my Masters, and then back to the States for 2 ½ years…back and forth between cultures at different seasons in my life! Will I ever plant my feet in one place? To be honest I love the moving around, for each location change has been strategic for what the Lord wants to teach me and those he wants me to come in contact with. Granted I am still single, so in moving I am not yet thinking of a husband and kids…hopefully that will one day change? (Amen to that!)
It’s been fascinating being an American many miles away from ‘home’ and learning about how we and our country are perceived oversees. I definitely grew up hearing how the Brits perceived us (I’ll save that for another story), but it has been fascinating to learn how we are viewed in Africa. To some we are seen as do-gooders, people with hearts of compassion who come over to this continent to help and serve…to others we are seen as incredibly wealthy (which in many ways we are), leading glamorous lives and mixing with celebrities…but to others we are seen as arrogant and selfish, thinking of our own political interests. Making cross-cultural relationships wherever you live is so important. When we are vulnerable and real with each other, stereotypes and cultural walls begin to break down. Wrong perceptions can destroy potential friendships!
Right now all conversations about the States are wrapped up in politics and our upcoming election. I have been amazed to learn that many Africans are more on top of my presidential campaign than I am! (Actually that probably doesn’t surprise many of you, as I could freely predict the Oscars or Tonys, but have no clue what is going to happen in the polls!) I have been asked over a dozen times by random people here, “Who are you going to vote for?” It always catches me by surprise for I was always under the inclination that that is a private and personal question. It got to a point one day that I was so frustrated at being asked who I thought the next president was going to be that Rene, my housemate, told me to just smile and ask them back “Who will be the next leader of South Africa?”…they too will be coming up to elections soon and are in desperate need of change…and an appropriate leader for the time. So who do the Africans want for our next president…well, I’ll leave that to you to guess??
In closing, I find the most peace in knowing that my eternal home is with Jesus. Even if I’m culturally misunderstood and feel at times that I don’t fit in…I am completely accepted and understood (even in my complexity) by our loving God!
September 9, 2008
Lessons Learned on the Road
Many of my most intimate moments with Jesus the past few weeks have taken place in a car. Why? Because this is where I have found myself the most out of control and full of fear! It is so true that when we are weak, he is strong. Little did I know how strategic it was ten years ago when I learned to drive my father’s old Honda which was a manual. This was the only car available to me the summer of 1998, and I had just returned from the UK…a 19 year old who was going to get her license for the first time. I got a job that September before university started working at our State Fair, managing volunteers at a Teriyaki Booth owned by the ministry Young Life. I drove that manual everyday for a month, until I was blessed with a used automatic that I was to drive over the next ten years. Now I find myself back in a manual car…on the other side of the road (which thankfully hasn’t been difficult at all…I assume my many years in the UK have helped)…and maneuvering around in a new city that literally encircles a mountain!
Some days I need to meet someone across the city in an area I have never been too…so I get out my map book (thanks to my mother who is a map queen…she left me 5 different map books from when they lived here!)…and find my destination. Before I start to drive I pray…for protection, favor and guidance…boy it helps! Then I try to remember my turns and…go! I have realized that in driving an automatic one can do way too many things while they are driving…eating breakfast, putting on make-up, talking on the phone, entertaining children sitting behind you, and reading directions. In the manual…I need to be alert at all times…changing gears like crazy and praying I don’t get stuck on a hill! What has amazed me is that in countless situations Jesus has literally just guided me to my destinations…the directions somehow remain engrained in my mind and I don’t need to look at a map…I just end up at the location.
Last weekend, Cape Town experienced the worst storm that they have had in 8 years! On the Saturday I took my roommate Rene to the airport and on the way home the wind began to blow like I have never seen…and the rain was coming down so hard that I could barely see the road through my high speed windshield wipers. The car began to shake with the wind and I was convinced that my little VW Citi was going to blow right off the road. I have never been in a Hurricane, but the cape winds are certainly my closest reference. Once home I went straight up to bed to keep warm. Houses here do not have central heating, so on winter days like these you can literally freeze inside. I turned my heated mattress pad on high and snuggled in with a book. However I became quite anxious when our yard furniture began flying around outside! I also had to check our windows as I was convinced the wind could break through as it was blowing so hard. All I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and not immerge until the following day, but later that afternoon I was meant to meet up with a friend downtown…which required taking two different highways around the other side of the mountain! Everything within me wanted her to call and say, “This weather is horrible, I will come pick you up”…but I knew I needed to venture out in faith. As I got into the car I took a big breath and thought, “Ok Lord, here we go on another adventure…I desperately need your help.” By the time I left my house the rain had stopped and the wind had died down. I even had the quickest and smoothest ride I have ever had into the city. I found her flat just by the directions I had remembered in my head and even found a parking spot right in front of her building. As I turned off the car, I began to cry. I had made it…in horrible weather and all. I felt so loved by Jesus at that moment…he met me in my fear. As soon as I got into her flat, the rain and wind started back up again, even pelting down large hail, which is uncommon here. I personally believed that Jesus stopped the rain in those 20mins just for me…what a great God we serve who is so concerned for our individual needs.
My little car that I have bonded with the past 3 weeks has now gone back to its owner who is back from holiday. So, I am trusting the Lord for what he has next. Yes I could pray for an automatic (however they are quite uncommon here)…but to be honest I think the Lord has some more adventures and lesson of faith for me as I continue to explore this city…and if that requires a manual…well…bring it on!
Some days I need to meet someone across the city in an area I have never been too…so I get out my map book (thanks to my mother who is a map queen…she left me 5 different map books from when they lived here!)…and find my destination. Before I start to drive I pray…for protection, favor and guidance…boy it helps! Then I try to remember my turns and…go! I have realized that in driving an automatic one can do way too many things while they are driving…eating breakfast, putting on make-up, talking on the phone, entertaining children sitting behind you, and reading directions. In the manual…I need to be alert at all times…changing gears like crazy and praying I don’t get stuck on a hill! What has amazed me is that in countless situations Jesus has literally just guided me to my destinations…the directions somehow remain engrained in my mind and I don’t need to look at a map…I just end up at the location.
Last weekend, Cape Town experienced the worst storm that they have had in 8 years! On the Saturday I took my roommate Rene to the airport and on the way home the wind began to blow like I have never seen…and the rain was coming down so hard that I could barely see the road through my high speed windshield wipers. The car began to shake with the wind and I was convinced that my little VW Citi was going to blow right off the road. I have never been in a Hurricane, but the cape winds are certainly my closest reference. Once home I went straight up to bed to keep warm. Houses here do not have central heating, so on winter days like these you can literally freeze inside. I turned my heated mattress pad on high and snuggled in with a book. However I became quite anxious when our yard furniture began flying around outside! I also had to check our windows as I was convinced the wind could break through as it was blowing so hard. All I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and not immerge until the following day, but later that afternoon I was meant to meet up with a friend downtown…which required taking two different highways around the other side of the mountain! Everything within me wanted her to call and say, “This weather is horrible, I will come pick you up”…but I knew I needed to venture out in faith. As I got into the car I took a big breath and thought, “Ok Lord, here we go on another adventure…I desperately need your help.” By the time I left my house the rain had stopped and the wind had died down. I even had the quickest and smoothest ride I have ever had into the city. I found her flat just by the directions I had remembered in my head and even found a parking spot right in front of her building. As I turned off the car, I began to cry. I had made it…in horrible weather and all. I felt so loved by Jesus at that moment…he met me in my fear. As soon as I got into her flat, the rain and wind started back up again, even pelting down large hail, which is uncommon here. I personally believed that Jesus stopped the rain in those 20mins just for me…what a great God we serve who is so concerned for our individual needs.
My little car that I have bonded with the past 3 weeks has now gone back to its owner who is back from holiday. So, I am trusting the Lord for what he has next. Yes I could pray for an automatic (however they are quite uncommon here)…but to be honest I think the Lord has some more adventures and lesson of faith for me as I continue to explore this city…and if that requires a manual…well…bring it on!
"Why are you here?" and "What are you doing?"
I can’t tell you how many times I have had to answer these questions, and often the most frustrating thing is I don’t have an answer that people can neatly box away in their brain. Of course there must be a reason why I quit my jobs, gave up my house, left my ministries, packed up my life and moved thousands of miles away from my dear family and friends! The answer is simply, “I came in obedience to a call to go…a call to learn and love.” Unlike many people who come to Africa to ‘do’…Jesus has asked me to come in this season and ‘be’…be with him and be with his people. Of course there is doing that comes with that, but that is not my primary focus. Is this easy? No! I left a world of busyness….good busyness, which included full days of teaching, mentoring, organizing, and planning. It is so easy to think that we are wasting time, when we are doing things that go against the world’s standards of success.
I could tell you that I am here for ___ number of months, working on the ___ project for this or that NGO…and show you a handful of pictures of me holding AIDS babies…but that is not the truth of my time here. I don’t have a clue what my weeks, let alone my days look like. The other morning I woke up in a sweat because I didn’t know what I was meant to be doing that day…it wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to do…I just didn’t have a clear sense of what God was asking me of that particular day. I prayed with my roommate that morning, and the Lord brought to mind two mothers that I should text and see if I could help them with anything. My day was blessed as I was able to serve them, play with their children and process with them about what the Lord is teaching me these days.
Somedays I long for a role or a title...something that makes me feel important or needed...but Jesus is not allowing that in this season. My significance comes from him alone and not in what I can accomplish. What great life lessons these are! When I was in a season of work, oh how I longed for the days where I could sit, read and journal. Now I’ve been blessed with that! It may be a short season or a longer season…but as many of you know, I would be crazy if I didn’t take advantage of it. Life is so precious, each day a gift…regardless of what it holds.
I could tell you that I am here for ___ number of months, working on the ___ project for this or that NGO…and show you a handful of pictures of me holding AIDS babies…but that is not the truth of my time here. I don’t have a clue what my weeks, let alone my days look like. The other morning I woke up in a sweat because I didn’t know what I was meant to be doing that day…it wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to do…I just didn’t have a clear sense of what God was asking me of that particular day. I prayed with my roommate that morning, and the Lord brought to mind two mothers that I should text and see if I could help them with anything. My day was blessed as I was able to serve them, play with their children and process with them about what the Lord is teaching me these days.
Somedays I long for a role or a title...something that makes me feel important or needed...but Jesus is not allowing that in this season. My significance comes from him alone and not in what I can accomplish. What great life lessons these are! When I was in a season of work, oh how I longed for the days where I could sit, read and journal. Now I’ve been blessed with that! It may be a short season or a longer season…but as many of you know, I would be crazy if I didn’t take advantage of it. Life is so precious, each day a gift…regardless of what it holds.
Loving Mothers
A few weeks ago I was asked to speak to a group of young mothers, about what I have learned over the years working with children, and how to naturally incorporate Jesus ministry principals into the home and also a school setting.
The week leading up to this talk I was so disillusioned by insignificance. “What would I have to share with these mothers…I wasn’t a mother myself…and I didn’t run the school, I was more in a supporting role…I am also younger than many of them and clearly will not have anything to say that they don’t know already.” As I sat down with a piece of paper the night before to think about what I wanted to share, the Lord began to minister to my heart. The first thing he began to impress on my heart was that I needed to ask their forgiveness. Jesus was showing me that I do have things to share and he wants to use me as a vessel to draw these mothers closer to him. As I sat there in conviction aware of the many lies of insignificance that I had been believing, Jesus brought me back to a vision I had had exactly 2 years ago.
It was the summer of 2006, and over 25 South Africans were in Tacoma for the Jesus Ministry Conference at my church. One night our pastor was praying over the 1,000 people that gathered at the convention center, and I remember him specifically asking the Lord to fill us with a vision for our lives. At that very moment I clearly remember having a strong desire to go to Africa and work with people working with children. At that time I was very involved with the children’s ministry at my church, and I wanted to share with other care workers the many truths, both practical and spiritual, that I was learning.
Now, exactly two years later I was curled up in my bed…in Cape Town, South Africa (!) preparing to speak to a group of women about children. Tears filled my eyes as I was touched by the strategicness and faithfulness of God. “Was I really here? Was this really happening? Of course I would have something to say…I don’t know yet what it is, but I do believe I am here for a reason.”
The talk went great. It was more of an open discussion of them asking questions and me sharing about experiences I have had or situations I have witnessed, either from families I have lived with or worked with over the years. I am also realizing that Jesus has gifted me with a wealth of insight that I have learned over the years watching my own mother and grandmother. As many of you know these are incredible women, who have done outstanding jobs raising children…I can personally attest to that! I love sharing my Grandma Rosy’s simple advice to mothers, which is “Pray for Wisdom Everyday!”
Much of my time in Cape Town thus far has been spent with people and growing a community of friends around me…and a majority of these are mothers. If Jesus has sent me here to simply encourage them, visit them, laugh with them, listen to them…and especially learn from them…it is time well spent!
The week leading up to this talk I was so disillusioned by insignificance. “What would I have to share with these mothers…I wasn’t a mother myself…and I didn’t run the school, I was more in a supporting role…I am also younger than many of them and clearly will not have anything to say that they don’t know already.” As I sat down with a piece of paper the night before to think about what I wanted to share, the Lord began to minister to my heart. The first thing he began to impress on my heart was that I needed to ask their forgiveness. Jesus was showing me that I do have things to share and he wants to use me as a vessel to draw these mothers closer to him. As I sat there in conviction aware of the many lies of insignificance that I had been believing, Jesus brought me back to a vision I had had exactly 2 years ago.
It was the summer of 2006, and over 25 South Africans were in Tacoma for the Jesus Ministry Conference at my church. One night our pastor was praying over the 1,000 people that gathered at the convention center, and I remember him specifically asking the Lord to fill us with a vision for our lives. At that very moment I clearly remember having a strong desire to go to Africa and work with people working with children. At that time I was very involved with the children’s ministry at my church, and I wanted to share with other care workers the many truths, both practical and spiritual, that I was learning.
Now, exactly two years later I was curled up in my bed…in Cape Town, South Africa (!) preparing to speak to a group of women about children. Tears filled my eyes as I was touched by the strategicness and faithfulness of God. “Was I really here? Was this really happening? Of course I would have something to say…I don’t know yet what it is, but I do believe I am here for a reason.”
The talk went great. It was more of an open discussion of them asking questions and me sharing about experiences I have had or situations I have witnessed, either from families I have lived with or worked with over the years. I am also realizing that Jesus has gifted me with a wealth of insight that I have learned over the years watching my own mother and grandmother. As many of you know these are incredible women, who have done outstanding jobs raising children…I can personally attest to that! I love sharing my Grandma Rosy’s simple advice to mothers, which is “Pray for Wisdom Everyday!”
Much of my time in Cape Town thus far has been spent with people and growing a community of friends around me…and a majority of these are mothers. If Jesus has sent me here to simply encourage them, visit them, laugh with them, listen to them…and especially learn from them…it is time well spent!
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