Update

Hello! I hope you all are doing well. I just want to thank you all so much for the emails and encouraging comments you are leaving on my blog. When I opened my email last time I had so many emails and I was flooded with encouragement and support and love. You do not know how much this means to me.

I always have a difficult time knowing where to start when I am trying to tell you what is happening here and all that God is showing me, but I will try me best…J

Last weekend, K and I worked. We are very busy on the weekends because only three of us work and there is not a housekeeper, so we vacumn, clean house, laundry, clean dishes…we do try to help Auntie Loyce (our housekeeper) in all that we can during the week, but I did not realize how much she does each day! Wow…she is from Congo and is here working to try to pay for her family to also come and live in South Africa. She is always smiling and working diligently.

Katherine and I have been working each time with Auntie Veronica. She has worked at Door of Hope for 9 years and loves the children. She loves me and Katherine and we feel loved and accepted by Auntie Veronica. We laugh throughout the day together and share stories about our lives. Auntie loves the Lord and I enjoy hearing her humming and singing throughout the day. She is making sure that K and I are taking care of ourselves and that we are safe. God has shown me so much love and encouragement and has created a special friendship through Auntie Veronica. She wants to come to Yadkinville and meet my family and our church. Maybe someday! I wish that you all could meet her.

Katherine and I have just felt overwhelmed with love by the aunties and uncles we work with each day. I have realized that we truly are a family in Christ. We are all bound by this love for the Lord and a willingness to serve him. The children of Door of Hope are truly loved in Jesus’s name.

On Monday, Katherine and I drove out to Klipriver Nature Reserve and went hiking. It was a beautiful day and we were able to enjoy God’s beautiful creation. We climbed up on a small mountain/hill and could see very far. The beauty here is quite different from what we see at home in the Blue Ridge Mountains or Stone Mountain. God truly is a beautiful God. We saw zebras and we came within seven feet of four zebras. They truly are beautiful animals. We were looking at how detailed and different each of the different zebra’s stripes are and Katherine asked me, “How can you see a this view and look at this zebra and not believe in a Creator?” And to think that this Creator who made the heavens and the stars, the oceans, also made you and me and we are beautiful in His eyes. And this wonderful Creator wants to know us and share each day with us, breaking us free from all that holds us captive from living abundant life in Him…is beyond my comprehension.

The last four days have been very difficult for me. I believe that this has been the hardest week for me, but God has revealed so much to me this week. K and I moved on Tuesday and this was a hard day. We had become adjusted to living at the Baby House and we moved about 15 minutes away into an area of town where we are afraid to leave the gated area and we missed the community of the Baby House. Where we are staying is nice, it is called the Gospel Tract and is connected to a church. They house missionaries who are serving in Johannesburg. We have met a couple from Brazil who are trying to get to Mozambique but are not able due to difficult circumstances. They are trying to start a dental clinic there. They have been here for two months. Their English is limited, for they speak Portuguese. We also have met a lady who has been in South Africa for 4 years as a full time missionary church planting and working with an orphanage. I believe that this moving day was so hard because we had to adjust again to a whole new setting and drive on our own in this big city. But God has given us peace and strength as we have now adjusted to living here. We will be here for at least another week and then we will move in with a host family for the month of July.

Wednesday-Friday we worked at Door of Hope. For some reason, I was questioning why God brought me here this summer. I was really missing home and received a letter in the mail from Kathy Spicer (my “pretend” 9 year old little sister who I go to church with) who told me that she loved me and missed me so much. She drew a frowny face that was crying and I then felt really homesick and wondered if I should have stayed home this summer and loved the children in my own church and community. I was also having a difficult time trying to understand why so many precious children are abandoned and why there is so much heartache…I was holding one of the twins who are 2 weeks old and barely weigh 3 pounds when I began to just cry. The twins are in an isolation room so thankfully no one could see me! I was asking, “Why, Lord? Why are so many children without homes? Why has their family just forgotten them?” That same day we received a young girl who had to be taken away from her home and has a burnt foot and has to see a specialist and take two kinds of medicine…we received a baby who was born yesterday and the mother decided that she could not take care of her…we are running out of beds and working so hard to provide and love for all the children…all of this was too much for this heart of mine to take. I have fallen in love with these children and I wonder about their future. I was quite upset and just began praying for each child, by name, right there in the isolation room when I was holding one of the twins. I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:11-13 which promises that God has plans and purposes for each of his children, plans for a hope and a future. This is also true for the orphans that I am loving this summer. I also know that God led me to this verse this week, for I have never read it before, and if I did, I could not connect with it before:

Isaiah 49:15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.”
God has not forgotten these little ones; I felt silly and so small for my questioning heart.

When I talked to Katherine and shared with her what my heart was feeling, she told me that she thinks God has led her here because He has taught her and spoke to her in ways that He could not have if she was home this summer. This is very true. I have been challenged in my walk with God so much this summer. I have needed to depend and cry out to him in ways that I never have before. I have realized strongholds that are in my life which are keeping me from serving God to the fullest. My heart has been broken and the only way that it can be whole again is through God’s love and living word, with His promises of unfailing love and faithfulness and plans and presence that is full of joy.

Today I challenge you to think about what is in your life that is distracting you from serving God to the fullest. What is on your heart at this very second that is making it feel heavy or broken? Take this to God, call out to Him, and he will comfort you, speaking to you. Turn to His word and trust in His promises. I have learned that I tend to take my worries, fears, doubts, and heartache to other things other than God. But this is when I am led to into a stronghold, which is anything that stops me from living an abundant life with God. Why have I not recognized this before? God wants us to come to him:
Matthew 11: 28-30 “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
We are unworthy to share every feeling and every circumstance with God, but He wants us to share everything with him-not only our praise, but our burdens, our brokenness, our worries. This is a wonder to me. Take everything to Him, friend, and you will experience His wonderful peace. (Philippians 4: 4-7).

Sorry if this blog entry has seemed sad or not as upbeat as the others. I am just sharing my heart with ya’ll-thanks for taking the time to read. I love you all so much. Talk to you soon!