Find rest, O my soul, in God alone

Today is November 15, 2012.   One year ago today, I was boarding a plane to come to America.   I had served in Zambia for 11 months and was heading home for the holidays.   I remember the feelings that were rushing through me.   I remember hardly being able to contain the excitement that was bursting out of me.   It's neat reflecting on what the Lord has done in my life over the past 12 months.   What a rush. So much has happened in my life, spiritually and emotionally!   I have experienced radical faith that will never cease.   I have experienced life in the quick and vast expansion of the ministry.   I have experienced death in the loss of a sweet child.   I have seen miracles happen when Zambian children AND American families have been transformed right before my eyes! I have literally watched an education department double in size and in quality. I have developed deep friendships in the staff over here.     I have had the privilege of watching a 31 year old woman give

Today is World Teacher's Day. A holiday for teachers celebrated with extreme excitement here in Zambia.  I remember last year when this day came.  I was working in the container to organize and compile all of our donated items left from camp.  My coworker, Kathryn, and I were knee deep in school supplies when we decided to take a breath.  (It's summer in Zambia this time of the year, so being outside caused a LOT of weakness!) I got a call from my boss who said, "Meg, there are hundreds of teachers marching down the street. You should go see them!"  It took about 2 seconds for Kathryn and I to jump up and rush to our car.  We drove straight to Showgrounds where they were marching, but only got the tail end.  There were a few clusters of teachers marching together with matching t-shirts on.  They were laughing and happily displaying their pride for being a teacher.  It excited us.  Just as we were making our way back home,we both received a text from one of our te

I have an amazing story to tell you about a little boy. He turned 4 years old this week. He is a sweet, smart, and precious boy who is already displaying the Lord's glory. When he was about a year and 6 months old, he was admitted into the hospital because of malnutrition and abandonment.   An  orphanage stepped in to care for him when no one else could. Overtime, all his friends and the housemothers knew him as a joyful boy—even though his circumstances did not seem joyful.   Although he lived in an orphanage and was taken care of, he didn't have the one-on-one parenting, love, and support he should have had by his birth parents.   He stayed in the orphanage for almost 2 years. During this time, not one family member visited him. I had the pleasure of meeting this sweet boy when I visited an orphanage one weekend in January. He was the happiest one of them all.   He ran and played with a huge smile on his face.   His personality and demeanor was intriguing. E

The devil wants me to be shaken.  The devil wants my faith to falter. He wants my trust in you to be broken.  He wants me to move.  He wants me to budge.  He wants me to step away from your will.  He wants to shake me up. But I DON'T WANT TO MOVE .  I will not.  I refuse to be shaken.  I refuse to be moved by him.  The one who ravages this world with evil, hatred, greed, entitlement, abuse, sickness, destruction is the SAME ONE who HAS to bow before you because of YOUR name.  King Jesus, I will not move.  I will not be shaken. I am a sinner, redeemed and set free, who reflects your LOVE, your POWER, and your RIGHTEOUS ANGER for the orphan. However, wherever, you want me to fulfill my call, I'll do it.  My life is yours.  I belong to you.  Your sacrifice set ME free, so my life will be a sacrifice for you.  It doesn't make sense to other people, but it's not supposed to. I am foreign in this land.  I am living in a world that I can't call home.  A place surround

Allow me to paint a picture for you: The road before you is rocky. The dirt is thick. At 8 years old you walk at dusk, holding the hand of your little brother. You know this path well.  This happens often--you leading him along the avenues through your neighborhood.  Even though you do this all the time, that familiar fear still consumes you.  He's not walking fast enough, but then again, he never does. You drag him along quickly, and your heart begins to heavily pound. Your mind starts racing, "I thought I had more time this afternoon. I wish auntie hadn't asked me to get the water so late again. Why does the sun have to set so quickly?" You quicken your pace. Still a mile left to go. You round the corner as darkness floods the street. The recognizable sound of loud rap music coming from the tavern reminds you of that dreadful night 3 months ago.  The vision fills your mind and your pace rapidly increases. Those drunk men whispering in your ear to come with them.  

The other day I was at the Tree of Life school (Faith Christian Academy), visiting the teachers and checking on uniforms for the children.  I was walking around as I normally do, while hearing, "There's auntie Megan" from the children in their classrooms.  I passed each classroom in both blocks of the school.  As I turned the corner, I saw my sponsored boy, Joseph, down at the end of the walkway.  It's just another normal day so I didn't expect much from him after seeing me.  But I got a beautiful image that surprised, humbled, and comforted me. Since, I moved here in 2010, Joseph has gone through a long range of emotions.  He has gone from excited to shy to embarrassed to entitled to humbled and back to joyful again.  I have seen him shy away from me in front of his friends, and I'm not going to lie, the rejection hurt a bit.  I've seen him feel like he deserves more because his sponsor lives and works here.  I've seen him sit humbled at church whil

My sweet LORD, Oh how I long to be in your presence, to sit before your feet.  To truly rest without the sin of this world in and around me.  Father, I wait for you.  I wait anxiously for you to come--I know it's soon.  As hard as it is to be away from home, I trust one thing: You are faithful.  You know more than I know.  You see more than I see.  Your ways are so much higher than mine.  I belong to you.  I desire for you to use my life to glorify you alone.  Lord, forgive me for my selfishness, forgive me for my anger, forgive me for living half in the world and half out. Forgive me for my doubt, my guilt, my complaints, my shame, my filth.  Jesus, on my knees I pray that you would make me a reflection of you.  Move me.  Guide me.  Use me. Break me. I see your love for these kids, I feel it.  Holy Spirit, consume the homes of these sweet children.  Prepare their hearts even now to be radically changed at camp this summer.  Lord, rock them, shake them, move them.  Lord DELIVER

When we started all of our schools, we began interviewing people for teaching positions.  I'll be honest and say that it's really difficult to find the right teacher for this job.  With orphaned and vulnerable children in your classrooms, it's quite hard to find those who truly love the orphan.  We battle the mindset of those who only want a promotion, a contract, more money, or a job for the now. Our schools are on the private sector of education, so we also battle the government wages and benefits.  But, we've decided that we will not just take any person who will work for a private school--we want to find the right person for the job.  However, searching for the right person is literally like searching for a needle in a haystack. Last year, we would sit in interviews all day and find ONE person.  This passed December, Kathryn set in days and days of interviews to find 4 or so.  It's not easy.  But it's really neat because the one's we do find, we know w

A couple nights ago, my roommates and I set in my room talking about the day. I wanted to show them the song called, "Times" by Tenth Avenue North since I had forgotten about how incredible the words are until I heard it recently. After the song was over, another song began to play and before I knew it, we were worshipping with everything we had. One powerful song after another played loudly and the presence of the Holy Spirit was thick in that place. When one specific song came on, tears streamed down my face. It's called, "I Am All He Says I Am" by Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe. The words are so overwhelming that I just wept for His children--the ones sleeping in the street just a few short miles away from where I sit worshipping in the safety of my home. My mind was flooded with images of children stepping out in the middle of the road trying to flee this earth--children severely struck with sadness and pain. The 4 of us called out for our Lord to rise up

Over 2,000 years ago, a man prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane awaiting a fate that even he knew he had to accomplish. A fate that resulted in him dying an excruciating death in order for every person on earth to live. He, our Savior, fell before his father and said, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39 Knowing death awaits him, he stood to face his betrayer fully prepared and willing to fulfill the will of His fathers before his own. Let me emphasize this, he chose to fulfill his father's will before his own. What if Jesus, at this point had said, "Alright Dad, I feel like you want me to do this, but I'm not sure I really want to die. I mean, it's going to be painful. I'm going to have to sacrifice my entire life for this. You're asking too much from me." And walked away. Where would we be today? In wisdom, obedience and love, our Savior stepped up and said,