“The Lord is compassionate, and when
you cry to him for help, he will answer you. The Lord will make you
go through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach you, and
you will not have to search for him anymore. If you wander off the
road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you
saying, ‘Here is the road. Follow it'” (Isaiah 30:19b-21).
I don’t know how better to explain my
current mindset then this passage. I must admit that this time is
whirl wind of redemption and hard lessons learned. I have
surrendered the expectation that my time in Uganda will be a “walk
in the park”. I understand that my time spent here will be
difficult but I can already see the affect that it will have in my
life. I see the lessons that God is teaching me and I know that in
this time I will be completely transformed. I am really starting to
understand 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 which says:
“My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are
weak. I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order
to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me. I am content
with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties
for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong”
I am content with this time of hardship
right now because I know that God is at work and that He is using
this time to teach me to live a life of whole- hearted satisfaction
of His will. I have found that daily, I cry out to God for guidance
and in trusting Him, He has revealed to me some pretty awesome things
and He has shown me that He is behind me always ready to guide me
back onto the right path. He is a compassionate God and in all my
times of hardship I am learning to trust that He is always there and
He is always working.
My ministry here has taken a new turn.
God is opening up all these really awesome ministry opportunities for
my team. I don’t know if you all got my prayer request but if you
didn’t I can send them to you and you will understand a little bit
better of what’s going on and how much of a blessing this is to my
team. We have been hanging out with some really awesome kids in an
orphanage right down the street from our house; we are going to be
doing ministry with an organization that is sponsored by my teammates
church that I can’t even put into words how amazing it is. It is
called True Vine Ministries and they have an orphanage, a school,
they work with widows, they teach women crafts skills, they have a
church that is fighting against Religion, and on and on and on.
These are just a few things that God has put in our path and I am
excited to see our ministry really exploding. Already I am being
reminded everyday of the joy of serving and loving God’s people and
I can only see it getting better and better.
So . . . I guess the point that I want
to make is that Mambo Sawa Sawa (Things are better) and they are
getting better. They are a little tough right now, but I know that
God is working and I have a little more hope and trust in the Him
every day.
I’m glad to hear things are getting better! It sounds like a lot of good is happening out there. I’m really happy for you, and I love reading about this adventure!
Tara, what a beautiful and powerful testimony of God & His faithfulness. Thank you for sharing and for reminding me/us. Praise to our Lord for your willingness to serve His precious ones…you, too, are precious in His sight and He loves you. In that love, Brittany’s Grams
Hey girl, it’s great to hear about how the Lord is teaching and stretching you, you are in my prayers. God is a good God, so good.
love you!
B
…after quite a silence I am finally back around here, keeping the Holy Spirit signal up from Matamoros, Mexico. Fshiuuuuuu I went through this lack of health turbulence and have just been able to grab this computer and print some living words to you my sister and friend. As I kept reading your blogs to stay tuned, I found out we went through some roughies, specially in the health aspect…
I was hit by a stomach infection followed by a respiratory disease that shook me for about a month. After medicine and prayer I feel my body is finally breathing well and digesting food correctly : )
Well, after a nice cup of hot chocolate, with beautiful pixelcolors shining little bubbles sitting at the top, and after singing a couple of worship songs, I write you this note.
Today, I briefly spoke to my congregation about how difficult it is for our reason to grasp our promise of everlasting life: having dinner with our Lord in heaven and then our glorious return to reign with Him… Honestly Tara, my mind just blurts out something like “system error” : ) But as I was saying this, I was reminded of His faithfulness, and how in the past I had also expressed how crazy it was to believe in the fire of the Holy Spirit, in perceiving it as a real power. Truth of the matter is that Jesus let me really meet Him by giving me some of this fire, livingwater of His Spirit this year.
And as contradictory as fire and livingwater could seem, to us they are one same substance. The same happens with the fact that weakness and strength are equally important and tied together for us who follow Christ.
I was reminded by my pastor tonight that our walk is one of faith. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). My mind/reason might not want to let go but it is a must for me/us.
As I read this post, I delighted myself to find out that you mentioned Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, as I have been drawing from these same letters to share a few messages. You see, it is the “crazeness” of the Word that binds all of us (the Church) together in faith. It is that “crazeness” that brought us together to worship in Santa Adelaida, to have some extremely good coffee at my friends house, and then to worship again until we felt the certainty of being in communion with Him, of being so sure of all His spiritual promises for us, and until we found ourselves praying in the midst of a flame of fire shining among us, being allowed to rejoice in His presence. It is the “crazeness” of His operations that let us prove that His power is perfected in our weakness. And it is the “crazeness” of the message of the cross where the power of the gospel sits upon, Jesus being the rock that supports it. So it is this message that I urge you to keep living for and share over there in Africa.
The message of dying to be born again based on the cross and the resurrection is the one you/we need to share over and over specially among little children, considering the “short amount of time” you will be over there. It is a message of faith and almightiness! Take heed in the words of Paul:
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God…
It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18;21-24;30).
Keep trusting in Jesus, the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. Keep trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit. Keep planting this seed of faith even when it might not be the “right time”; little children will know how to take it… trust in the crazeness of our Lord’s holy message.
I send you an amazingly big hug. I have not stopped praying for all of you. You, Tara, are always in my thoughts and prayers. Your prayers are helping me to grow and stay in the Way of the Lord. Please keep praying for me too. Share this note with everyone in your team please.
I miss you somehow and a little… but keep this mission alive and lit! : )
Your brother and friend in Christ,
Emmanuel.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Hey Lady!
You are great and I love God! Haha, that is what came to me. You radiate his character because he has placed you where you were, are and will be for a specific reason — for HIS glory! Ahh I am so happy that His glory is sent out by your messages and into my heart here in SD. I love you and am so happy to share in the LOVE of Jesus with you and even at time percariously through you! Ha ha but just because I think you’re great! I love you lady! Thank you for your prayers for me too.
praying…
I bet He spoke to you before this message even leaves my computer to enter the web… haha God is amazing isn’t he?
faith. hope. love.
in Jesus,
leah