1 Chronicles 28 : Love and Work

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.... David also said to Solomon, his son, ‘Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.’”

-1 Chronicles 28:9-10; 20

You would think that after having the worst time sleeping lately because of battling migraines, I would somehow remember that drinking Coca Cola at 8pm with dinner would not be the best idea. But low and behold, it is late at night, Nicole is asleep in the bed next to mine, and here I am typing away under my lime-green mosquito net, wide awake, and not predicting any sleep in the near future. Trying to decide what to write about, rather how to write about this, the Lord reminded me of the scripture that Nicole and I read this morning.

In 1 Chronicles 28, David has announced to a really large group of people his plans to build a temple that would house the ark of the covenant. He explains that the Lord told him that he (David) would not be the one to carry out the building process, but that his son, Solomon, would be the one to see it through. Solomon has a large task at hand, and David is literally giving him the building plans that the Lord designed for the temple, but also some wise, fatherly advice. David, as we know, has had quite the life. As a teenager, he took down the ferocious tall dude when everyone else stood scared in their boots. Out of all his older brothers, he was anointed future king by the prophet Samuel one day, and then the next day Samuel was on his way, leaving behind no instructions or timeline of when this said kingdom would occur. David was hunted down by King Saul for many years, and feared death on many occasions. Then, when he finally was king, he danced undignified in his chonies around the ark of the covenant--his wife was not so pleased with him. Oh, and we can’t forget his sex scandal with the bathing lady. We all remember how that mess went down. AND YET, the Lord called David His friend. So when daddy David tells his son Solomon to not be afraid or discouraged, but to be strong and serve the Lord whole heartedly, he really does know what he is talking about.

Life at Sanyu has been......interesting. To be honest, the first week was pretty difficult. For me, the hardest part has been getting used to all the things that I see going on around me, that I have been taught and know never to do. Laying it down, I have cried several times because my heart just breaks for these children--not just the state of their abandonment, but how they are currently being treated. I know that these mama’s do care for these children and I have had the privilege/blessing to witness some of the tender and loving moments that they share with some of the more favored babies. I am also getting to know the mama’s more, and have gotten to hear a little about their lives. Partial reasons for the babies and children treatment is purely cultural differences. It’s cool...I can handle it. But there is something else: these mama’s are burnt out. And it shows. I have never heard so many threats to beat a child into submission as I have heard here. I take that back....I have never heard a threat to beat a child into submission until coming here. It is SOOOOO OBVIOUS that these children are starving for love, attention, and affection. And yet I have noticed that the babies mainly just come to us volunteers to get it. The mama’s work at least 12 hour days 6 days a week and trade off during the night shifts. They have to deal with us volunteers coming in to do our “charity” work (though, that is not why I am here) and help out in any way that we can, though not really being told what to do. They have to deal with tours of people that want to observe the orphanage and randomly want to hold babies so that they, the visitors, can get a warm, fuzzy feeling in their hearts and have a story to tell the people back home. All of this I get. I get that the mama’s don’t really want our help but reluctantly receive it out of sheer need. I get that they don’t really want us staying here at the orphanage and that it is a challenge to have us here, but that they allow us to stay because the money that we pay for the guest house pays the orphanage bills. (You might be wondering how I know this,...they have told us) I get it. I understand it all. The Lord has graciously given me a heart of understanding, though my flesh wants to be frustrated and upset. I get that children need spankings sometimes and a voice of discipline to help them understand what is expected of them--in fact I fully support it. But there are many things here that I do not get, and never hope or wish to. I believe that it is equally important to know what not to do than what to do. I think the Lord is allowing me to experience all these things because He is preparing me for something. Something bigger than myself. He is confirming in my heart His calling/my desire to work with orphans and showing me that He wants to use me to be a Mommy to many, many children.

“Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you.” And so for now, I will do the work, and I will continue to do the work. I will go to take care of the screaming infants though I have been up until 4:30 the night before because of a migraine. And I will love them with an Everlasting Love. I will pick up, hold, and sing “Revelation Song” to Francis--a little boy with Cerebral Palsy--even though he has totally peed and pooped his pants, is screaming at the top of his lungs, and is having major muscle spasms. And I will love him with an Everlasting Love. I will rock Joseph before bed time even though the mama’s scold me and tell me to put him down, though he climb’s out of his crib, run’s around hitting other children and waking up the babies, and meanwhile bitting me, hitting/spanking me, and trying to rip out my earrings--being an overall little stinker. I will rock him to sleep and show him Christ’s love and affection, though he is a “feared” 3 year old bully. And I will love him with an Everlasting Love. I will continue to get to know the mama’s and other volunteers and I will share Christ with them, though they might see me as just another person they meet in their lifetime. And I will love them with an Everlasting Love. The Lord has called me to work here for just 3 weeks, and work is most definitely what is done. All of us volunteers come home exhausted and frustrated and share stories of what happened that day. It’s our way of debriefing/venting/getting advice but also sharing in the children’s joy. We all truly care about these children, these mama’s, and this country. We want all of these babies to either get adopted or be reunited with a family member. I am finding that the Lord is personally stirring stronger in my heart to not just read or hear about adoptions taking place, but first of all to adopt one day, and secondly to be apart of the adoption process for others. God is preparing me and will continue to prepare me, of that I am sure. “He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.”

T.I.A. (This Is Africa).......

Well, this morning was a little crazy. I was taking a shower and the water ran out...completely! I still had conditioner in my hair so I yelled for Nicole to get one of my water bottles so I could rinse it all out. It was cold, and was pretty hilarious. And then because the water ran out, they were trying to refill the tanks again and our room got flooded. My suit case was really wet, but thankfully and praise-fully the Lord protected our power strip from being affected by the water, though it was in it. ALSO, I was proposed to this morning by our house keeper Joel. Poor guy, I had to turn him down. He wants to adopt one of the infants named Abigail and was asking if I could be his baby's mama. Sorry dude, I'm waiting on the Lord about my man.