It's funny. I had a really hard time even starting this because I had no idea where to begin. If you have asked me in person about how my trip was to Africa, I probably gave you the canned reply, "It was absolutely amazing! Yea, it was really great!" Then I would probably change the subject. I'm not sure why. It WAS absolutely amazing. It WAS really great. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life ever, yet I never had the words to talk about it.
However, this trip wasn't about me. It wasn't my trip to Kenya. It wasn't even the Kenya team's trip to Kenya. It was OUR trip to Kenya including the entire Ecclesia Hollywood body and anyone who supported us financially and/or through prayer. So I can't be selfish and keep my stories to myself. As your ambassador, it is my duty to bring these stories back and allow you to be a part of this experience, because you already are. So here I go…
One of the greatest lessons I learned while I was in Kenya was while I was prepping for one of the lessons we were teaching during VBS. We based the first week’s VBS program on the Lord’s Prayer. Each day, we took a little part of the prayer and illustrated different characteristics of God: God Listens, God Provides, God Forgives, God Protects, and God Rules. Chris and I were in charge of planning for Day 2, God Provides.
At first I thought it would be pretty straightforward. I knew that I wanted to use the illustration about God providing of Manna in the desert while the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. It seemed perfect. They were nomads, they were not yet in the Promised Land and their lives were not easy, yet God provided just enough food for them everyday. But as I was flushing it out, I realized it wasn’t going to be as simple as I thought. Or was it?
I struggled with this lesson everyday for a month before we left for our trip. I didn’t think I could do it. How could I prepare a lesson, as a privileged girl from the United States, who has always had more than enough, who has never had to worry about her next meal, for a bunch of kids from Kibera, who live in dirt shacks, who wear the same clothes day in and day out, who always wonder from where there next meal with come, that God is going to provide just what they need everyday?
But God is good. And He not only provides our physical needs, but He is faithful to see us through all our questions and struggles if we seek His counsel. He always leads us on these great adventures that result in a deeper and clearer understanding of who He is. This lesson led me on a mental and emotional roller coaster. I struggled with this lesson a lot. I cried about it almost everyday. I wrestled with it. And that’s what God wanted me to do. Especially on the Sunday night before camp started. Naphtali, Chris, Will and I, in an effort to write down something cohesive for the teaching team, really dove into what it really meant to ask God for our daily bread and trust God to provide it. We went all over the place. For example, based on the Exodus story, God expected the children of Israel to trust and obey. They needed to gather only what was necessary for that day and trust that the Manna would be provided again the next day. They needed to obey God’s command of resting on the Sabbath. But would that then open the can of worms that they are doing something wrong to find themselves in the state that they are? That if God doesn’t happen to provide them with a meal tonight, does that mean they didn’t trust ENOUGH? Obey ENOUGH? Or worse, that God just didn’t care about them? Needless to say, I was going through some really deep theological questions that I knew we couldn’t address in one 20-minute session. We had to pare it down, but how? By midnight, we had a million ideas, but nothing seemed to be exactly what we wanted. We were all tired so we decided to call it a night and we all decided to pray about it and trust that God would give us the right words to say when the time came.
The next morning, I came upon this little nugget: John 6:26-35
33“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Then it hit me. Why didn’t I see that it was so simple?
God does provide. He provides for our physical needs, our emotional needs, our spiritual needs. He is faithful. He does ask us to trust Him and to obey Him. His provision may not look the same in every circumstance. He provides with food, shelter, clothing, family, friends, community, education, talents, art, music, etc… But at the foundation of it all, Jesus is the ultimate provision. And we always have access to Him, because we have a Father who loves us and listens to us, forgives and protects us and He is the ruler of the world.
In the end, we focused on Jesus. And that was all we needed. Those kids have incredible faith. Their eyes are focused upward. Their sustenance comes from Him who gives them the strength and the comfort to live everyday with joy. They see each day as a blessing and don’t take anything for granted. They rely on God for everything. And in the end, they give Him more room to work in their lives and they know from where each good and perfect gift comes and give thanks. They live in a way that I strive to live day by day.
There are more stories. And I want to share them. I’ll try my best. You deserve to be a part of this experience because those kids want you to be a part of it. They pray for you everyday and they desire to be a part of your prayers as well. Bwana Asifiwe!
-Dianna
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