Trying to Take the Opportunities to Love on Purpose

I am trying to catch up on our blog. Here is a post I wrote a few weeks ago.

Our Awaken to Love team was a blast! God encountered every person on our team and it was a pleasure to be able to host it all!

I think we have finally recouped from facilitating the team for 3 weeks. It has been fun to reminisce and begin to “digest” all that happened during our trip this year. Mike and I were both remembering our Awaken to Love team from last year. The joy of relishing in all God did was temporarily taken when Katelin and I came down with malaria. We can’t believe that was a year ago and now to see all that God has done since them is overwhelming!

I can remember recouping from the sickness. I had consistent headaches for months and was very weak. One evening I was sitting on my couch with my dad celebrating my steady recovery. As I pondered out the window towards my beautiful rose garden, I remember saying to him, “Since God saved my life, how can I not say yes to whatever he has in store for me, even moving to Uganda.” At the time we didn’t know we would indeed be given the chance to serve and show HIS love in this beautiful country.

Now as I think of my rose garden (which I miss terribly – isn’t that silly!), I’ve come to realize there is a different kind of rose garden before my eyes. There is a unique kind of beauty all around me here in Uganda. Here are a couple of things I can see:

·        The opportunity to visit a sick child day after day is such a beautiful thing. In our last blog, I shared our experience of praying for little Justine after she passed away. Shortly after her passing, another one of the little girls in the home got sick – Zaitum. She is a precious gem whose eyes are always gleaming light and purity at you. When she fell sick, of course the reminder of Justine’s loss of life came to our minds. I spent so much time praying for her, but also visiting her and making sure she was able to go to the doctor for treatment. I remember touching her feverish body and telling her she would not die like Justine. She didn’t need to be afraid. My heart was so heavy to see her sick. Her eyes spoke volumes and seemed so lifeless. I brought her a chilled orange on one of my visits which I had bought from a supermarket in Kampala and she immediately began to suck on a piece as though it were candy. As she lay so delicate and weak, I found myself fighting off a fear of losing her too. The next day as I visited her, she was getting better and a little glimmer of life appeared in her eyes. As I walked up, she gave me a big smile and I then knew she would be fine. Who would have ever thought the little twinkle of an eye or smile from child would exude so much beauty and splendor. 

·        Hearing testimonies and stories from some of our team (who just left a little over a week ago)of how God touched their hearts and awakened them to love. These kinds of things make you realize how precious your choices really are in this life. What if we had decided to pass up this opportunity to live in Uganda? What if the comforts of home had wooed us to stay in America? I’m not implying that it’s because of us that God did amazing things in anyone’s heart. He could have used another opportunity in their life, but he used this one – Awaken to Love. He gave us the chance to preserver towards our hearts desires. Our passion is to inspire others to live on purpose. When you hear someone testify that God is alive to them more now than when they first arrived in Uganda…well, that really does make it all worth it! (there are so many more testimonies to share. We are hoping to post some of them through SMI’s posts)

Lori