Oh How He Loves Us

Living right next door to the youth center provides the kids with frequent opportunities to bang on our gate and ask us for things. The banging seems to be particularly incessant when there is no water. For some reason they think that if the youth center (which is right next to our house) has no water, then we must have water. And this is what happened last Saturday.

For five days no water had come into the compound where Sarah, Esther, and I live. We had no water in our pipes and only about 5 inches in our big blue barrel…not really even enough to wash from a bucket. On this day, I was especially tired and not feeling good…in no mood to deal with kids banging at the gate. There were two little girls who looked more poor than usual, with matted hair, thin little bodies, dirty faces, and ragged old clothes. All day they played by our gate and anytime we went in and out they asked for water, and sometimes they would just bang on the gate and ask again. Every time I told them we didn’t have any (except for the little in our blue barrel).

At one point, I was working at the kitchen table and I heard them yelling, “Lydia, Lydia.” I was so irritated that I didn’t even bother moving, I just yelled “Baca! Gidif!” which means “Enough! Stop!”

Later I was thinking about my response to these girls, and then I started coming under conviction for the way I responded to them. I started thinking, “What if I just gave these girls a drink of water? What if I gave every kid a drink of water that asked for one? Why don’t I give them a drink of water? What if the water ran out? ” These thoughts were all going through my mind when I went to bed that night.

In the middle of the night, I heard the water come on through the hose, and I thought, “Yes! We’re going to get water!” But when I got up in the morning, I looked in the blue barrel and realized that the water pressure had been so low that the amount of water had increased by only a few inches.” I just groaned.

As I was sitting in the quietness of our living room, I started thinking back to the day before and those two little girls. It was as if the Holy Spirit was saying to me, “Lydia, let Me tell you why you REALLY did not give those girls a drink. You don’t trust Me. If you really trusted Me, then you would have given those girls some water. You would have believed that I would and could provide for all your needs…even water. But, you didn’t give them water because you were afraid that if you gave it to them, there wouldn’t be any left for you.”

By this time, the water coming through the hose had completely stopped. I sat there in silence, realizing my disobedience to the Lord in not giving to those girls, for being so incredibly selfish, and my sin of not trusting God. I cried out, “Oh God, I am so sorry. I am so sorry for being so selfish and for not trusting that You will meet all my needs. Please forgive me.”

For what happened next, I will never cease to be amazed. It’s not some kind of magic, but only the incredible grace and love of God. About five minutes later, the water came back. This time not with a trickle, but a gush of water pouring from the hose; so much that we filled up every water container we have, and the water was still coming!

As I have reflected on all of this, I am overwhelmed by God’s incredible love towards me. At how He doesn’t just convict me of my sin and leave me alone, but He convicts me, forgives me, and then pours His love on me. And He is delighted to do it!

I wanted to share this with you because it is just one instance of God showing His incredible mercy and love! “My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and forever.”  Oh how He loves us!

Out on the Streets

Every day when I walk down the street I am confronted by the reality of poverty and disease and physical deformities; sometimes like I have never seen before. Every day the question stares me in the face, “What are you going to do, Lydia?”

What do I do with the elderly men and women who sit on the side of the road and ask for money? If I saw these elderly people at home, people just like my grandparents, would I just pass them by? Would I let them sit there begging? They are someone’s Grandpa and Grandma.

What about the mother with her nursing baby who sends her toddler to beg for money from pedestrians? If this was my sister, would I not bring her to my home and take care of her?

What about the crazy man who throws rocks at people?

What about the street kids who roam around all day, not going to school, playing in the streets, trying to sell packs of tissues? If these were my nieces and nephews, or even my own children, how could I let them go unattended and uncared for all day?

What about the man who has no legs, who sits on the roadside begging, but when I give him a birr, or even sometimes if I just greet him, his face just lights up with a big smile. Or the middle aged woman, Ababa, who sits outside the grocery store nearly everyday, with sadness in her eyes? What is her story?

What about all the people I see who have physical deformities that you would rarely see in western countries because they would be easily fixed at birth with a simple operation? What hope do they have for opportunities in life?

Most days I just don’t know what to do. People are always asking for money. Sometimes I give to them…usually to the elderly people or the disabled…and sometimes I don’t. But is money really what they need? Is my 1 birr (the equivalent of about 7 cents) really going to help them in life? Am I giving out of guilt? Shamefully, sometimes I just walk past, saying or doing nothing, because I get too overwhelmed. My heart cries when I walk down the street, “Oh Christ, what would you do for these people? You wouldn’t just walk past, would You?”

I don’t think there are easy answers for these questions, but what I do know is that I can find some of the answers by looking at Christ’s life. Looking through the Gospels, I don’t find Christ handing out money to the poor and needy. But what I do see Him doing is giving dignity. He spoke to them. He looked them in the eye. He knew their names. He spent time with them. He loved them. And I think that this is what He asks of me. I may not be able to help every person that I encounter, financially or otherwise, but I can give what has so generously been given to me…the love of Christ. And it is His love that compels me.

How You Can Pray:

–for our team as we plan the summer activities at the youth center

–that our team will have lots of energy, patience, and love for the hundreds of kids who

will come to the youth center every day

–for me as I continue seeking God for the future and what the next step will be…that I

will have His wisdom

The Graciousness of Uncertainty

Nearly five months ago I wrote a blog entry called “The First 100 Days.” It is hard for me to believe that I am already well into my “last 100 days” of my time in Ethiopia. Like anyone who tends to plan, I have been thinking a lot about the future. Where is it that the Lord is taking me on this journey? What should I do next? Should I just find a job in Ohio or somewhere else in the States? Should I come back to Africa or go somewhere else in this huge world?

I would like to be able to say that I have some inkling about where I think the Lord is leading me next, but I just don’t. And that, I am learning, is a wonderful place to be. It is what Oswald Chambers calls “the graciousness of uncertainty.” So often I want the Lord to reveal to me NOW what is going to happen in the future. But God, in His great wisdom and mercy, does not work that way. And even if He did tell me now, perhaps I wouldn’t like what He says, so I would do whatever I could to avoid it!

Girls having fun at Bible club! They are so precious!

But even in the uncertainty of the future, there is One of whom I can be certain. Oswald Chambers says, “To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time.”

And so over the last few weeks as I have been thinking and praying about “the next thing,” the Lord has been speaking to my heart, “Lydia, just be certain of Me. You know Me…your faithful God, who is always watching you, never forsaking you; your God who reveals things to you at just the right time. For now, just do the thing that I have called you to for this season…love the people that I have brought into your life. Don’t miss all that I have for you in your remaining time in Ethiopia because you are too busy thinking about the future. Seek Me first, and I will take care of the rest.”

So that is my challenge…to leave the whole thing to Him. Oswald Chambers again says, “It is gloriously uncertain how He will come in, but He will come. Remain loyal to Him.”

How You Can Pray:
–that the Lord will redeem the time I have left here in Ethiopia for His glory and honor
–that I will wisdom to see every opportunity to share Christ with those around me, and
courage to seize the moment
–for the girls in the Bible studies that Karen, Esther, Sarah and I lead—that they would
have a desire to know Christ personally and walk in relationship with Him

Thank you for your continual prayers, encouragement, and support. You are a huge blessing to me, and I am so grateful that you are part of this with me!