What I Think About.....

What I should pack in our 8 suitcases to Kenya- what is so important that I would carry it across the oceans and lands to my new strange life in Kenya? What is so important as to beat out everything else I want to bring? What should it be- something practical, something sentimental, something spiritual? I think about life in Kenya- how our children will be raised, I try to picture our children in several years from now, playing barefoot outside in the mud, running around the village with other children, splashing in the waves, eating ugali with their fingers…..I think about them growing up in Africa—thinking that monkeys on the road are normal, understanding what malaria is, speaking Swahili. I think about the perspective they will carry with them in their future, and for the rest of their lives…seeing what it means to have not, to have, to know, to know not. I think about the hot and heavy days, frizzy wavy hair, damp skin, dust-covered feet. I think about the colors in the Kenyan world- bright array of bold colors fall on everything….clothing, wraps, lipstick, nail polish, earrings, necklaces, sandals, trees, flowers, blue ocean, white sand, skin. I think about my heart- how God is helping me to be more and more excited about not just going to Kenya, but living in Kenya. I like to think He has grown my heart some these past years….His grace is truly sufficient for whatever He has called each of us to do. I think about building a life and a home in Kenya- I dream of building a house and how I would design it…..the backyard garden, complete with seasonal produce of course. I think about security concerns and safety precautions I would take. I think about my experiences in bible studies here, and how different they would be in the context of Kenya- how some things that are so major here, would be only menially minor there. How different viewpoints are there out of necessity. How will my training and experiences here be beneficial for ministry in Kenya? Or will they? Do I have anything at all to offer? What if I don’t, is that okay? I find at the end of the day that yes, it is okay….for “where I am weak, then He is strong”. So I guess it doesn’t really matter then- whether I feel useful or not, educated or not, prepared or not, versed or not- as long as my heart is His, He will use it as He intends. So then I can rest. No need to worry, fret, or fear. He has all things in His hands- my children’s future, my new colorful world, my heart. He has minutely intertwined His Sovereign purposes in the past, present, and future of my life ~ and in that I safely rest.