The Word Of God

Listening to an audio Bible & translating a sermon
from English on a Swazi homestead.

I remember that Sunday when I got my first Bible.  I was being promoted in Sunday School to the 3rd grade.  Now I could bring my own Bible to church.  

Bzongo listening to his audio Bible for the first time.

I remember getting my first adult Bible as I graduated from high school.  One with a black leather cover and my youth pastor had written a quote from DL Moody in the front cover.  

Ntombi, an illiterate disabled woman receiving a new audio Bible.

I remember that night in my college dorm room, as a 19 year old who had grown up in church my whole life, that I started reading the Bible for myself, discovering & encountering a fullness of God that I had never experienced before.

 

          

I remember my grandma, sitting in her wheelchair, in front of the big window in her bedroom, giving me her personal Bible that had "Clara Zeiler" embossed on the front.  I cherish that gift from her months before her death.  

 

I remember finding the ancient German Bibles in the trunk in the upstairs bedrooms, the Bibles my great-grandparents brought to the US with them as they immigrated from Europe.  Too fragile to use, I was captivated by their underlined verses as I carefully turned pages.  

Siphike listening to & cleaning his new audio Bible.

I remember my study Bible that my mom gave me for my seminary graduation, with my name embossed on the front.  

Mxolisi explaining to Joseph how to work the audio Bible for his homestead.

I remember my other grandma, barely able to stand up, giving me an old Bible from her side of the family on the day of my ordination.

Rachael & Nokwanda with her new study Bible.

I remember passing on one of my personal Bibles to my young niece as she was in elementary school.  She was excited to see the things I had underlined and the prayers in the margins.

Nothing can capture the look in someone's eye or the joyfulness in their heart as they receive God's word for the first time.  

I have been humbled to have been a link in the chain to get the Word of God into people's hands & ears & hearts over the last few months.  

We have been able to give Bibles, study Bibles and audio Bibles to several people who have never had a Bible of their own.

"For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."  (Hebrews 4:12)

God's Provision In God's Time

It was the last of three home visits for the day.  We were trying to finish up so the team could get on the road to Manzini and I could head back to the other two teams that were serving in Nsoko. The sky was starting to cloud up, bringing the rainstorms that would last over the next two days, making it difficult to get to some places because of the muddy roads.  

As we pulled up to the homestead, the gogo from the carepoint told us the story of these two young women in their twenties, each with a son.  Their parents had passed away, leaving the two of them as the only ones to provide for each other.  Both of them and their sons are all HIV+ and on ARV's, making it very difficult for them to get work.

As we sat in the shade at the back of their house & talked with them, I was struck by the fact that they just were telling us their story.  That they weren't asking for anything except for a Bible, yet open to sharing their struggles with strangers.  As I looked up at the house, I could see through the rocks to the inside and I couldn't help but think about the storms that were forecast for the next two days.  I imagined these young mothers trying to keep their sons warm & dry in the midst of rain blowing in and on them, or running under the walls.  And I was struck by their inability to help themselves in this situation. 

As we finished up the home visit and started walking to the car, I leaned over to my Swazi friend and whispered, "we need to pray that God will make a way for us to at least get them a tarp."  She agreed & we said we would talk more later.  

But God was already ahead of us on this one.  As I got into the car with a few of the team members who hadn't gone to that home visit, one friend leaned over to me & said "since I'm leaving Swaziland tomorrow, here is some money that I had left over that I want you to spend as you have needs here in Nsoko."

God answered faster than we could pray! I immediately told her of the home visit we had been on and how I had literally just a minute before said a little prayer that we would be able to help this struggling family.  

The next morning, as it was continuing to rain after raining all night, I stood outside at the hardware store watching them cut the tarp that we would be able to bless this family with.  We drove through the mud to find them huddled up in their blankets, wearing most of the clothes they owned, trying to stay warm and dry in the middle of the afternoon. 

We talked with them and gave them their new Bible, explaining how it is laid out & what the different numbers mean, and then before we left, we gave them the tarp.  We were all humbled in this holy moment at how God had answered an unspoken prayer of theirs by burdening another woman who they had never met, who was already on her way to the airport by the time we gave them the tarp.  Holy ground.  We were all standing on holy ground, amazed at the provision of God in His perfect timing. 

 

Called Me Higher

"I could just sit, I could just sit and wait for all your goodness, 

hope to feel your presence.  

I could just stay, I could just stay right where I am and hope to feel You, 

hope to feel something again.  

I could hold on, I could hold on to who I am and never let

 You change me from the inside.  

I could be safe, I could be safe here in your arms and never leave home, 

never let these walls down.

But You have called me higher, 

You have called me deeper 

and I'll go where You will lead me, Lord.

You have called me higher, 

You have called me deeper 

and I'll go where You will lead me, Lord. 

You lead me, Lord.

And I will be yours, I will be yours for all my life 

so let your mercy light the path before me.

You have called me higher, You have called me deeper 

and I'll go where You will lead me, Lord."

One of the songs that God has used to shape this season of my life as I worship Him through serving in Swaziland.  (From All Sons & Daughters on their live album).

Perspective

I am a few days past wrapping up some of the busiest 6 months of my life, with teams coming and going, many special medical needs cases in our children, the normal day to day ministry of overseeing 10 carepoints, hosting 6 interns, overseeing a building project, harvesting our normal gardens, overseeing our community garden, and I have to admit I am tired!  Physically I am tired from getting up at 5am to drive construction workers to the sites, or staying out past 9pm having dinners with teams.  I am tired from unloading hundreds of concrete blocks and 50kg bags of cement (yes, I did lift with my legs).  It sounds trivial, but I am tired of restaurant food with teams, of peanut butter & jelly, and of people getting so excited over a grapetizer.  Honestly, I am tired of people (yep, once an introvert, always an introvert!)

But I have nothing to complain about.  

Spiritually, God has been refreshing me and sustaining me in ways I couldn’t have imagined possible 4 months ago.  I have lived the verse from Isaiah 58 which says, “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

Physically, God has more than sustained me - I have been around hundreds of Swazi people and over 150 Americans, and God has protected me from getting even a cold or sinus infection.  He has given me energy to go every day, and that energy can only come from Him because if it was my own strength, it would have run out in May!

Still I have nothing to complain about.

I have missed my family a ton this year, watching my newest niece grow from 2 days when I left to over 6 months now, all through pictures instead of in person.  I have missed weddings & funerals, graduations, baby showers & birthdays.

  

Yet I have nothing to complain about.

God has sustained me & given me perspective through an amazing verse since my time away from Colorado in 2011..."Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."  

EVERYTHING. 

Therefore I endure EVERYTHING... 

Therefore I endure                                ...

Therefore I endure early mornings with construction workers & late nights with teams...

Therefore I endure busy days full of people, when I am an introvert...

Therefore I endure endless peanut butter & jelly sandwiches...

Therefore I endure being away from family & friends during monumental stages in their lives and mine...

Therefore I endure no Mexican food...

Therefore I endure wearing a skirt every day...

Therefore I endure living in a community where I don't understand most of the language...

Therefore I endure standing out like a sore thumb because of my skin color...

Therefore I endure temporary community as more than 150 Americans travel through Nsoko in 6 months to serve, making friends & having them leave...

Therefore I endure no fresh peaches, raspberries, sweet corn, summer barbeques with family, backpacking trips...

Still I can't complain.

Last week, as I was reflecting on the last few months, a friend of mine had coffee with a man who was heading back to an Asian country to face a prison sentence and most likely torture.  TORTURE.  For sharing the Gospel.  This man had already been tortured beyond what I can imagine in various ways, including having his fingernails pulled off...because he shared the Gospel.  It makes my missing Mexican food & family parties seem a little trivial.  There are difficult days when I have to remind myself of the end goal of why God has called me to Swaziland, and I pray that I would have the strength to say that yes, even I would endure having my fingernails pulled out "for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."  It definitely puts things into perspective.  A perspective that I need!

So while it has been a busy few months, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.  I praise God for spiritual refreshment & sustenance, safety & health, freedom to share the Gospel, access to financial resources & Bibles, mobility to get to those who have yet to hear the Gospel.  I praise God that He has allowed me & called me to see from the front row what He is doing in people's lives here in Nsoko.

And I praise God that "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" isn't just a trite statement from a man who doesn't know suffering or a God who sits above suffering.  Paul wrote it after many times in prison and enduring many beatings.  And he did so with his eyes on the cross & the God who "endured everything (even death on a cross) for the sake of the elect, that they (we) also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."