The days are getting colder in the beautiful upstate NY, and the sun is setting much too soon for my liking. It's frustrating to not have answers to my emails sent to Uganda, and I could let that discourage me, but I am trying my best to stay positive and patient. I do not doubt that God has a great spreadsheet for my future, but I do wish He'd let me in on the plans!
I've exchanged a few emails with a woman that is involved in a ministry in Zimbabwe, Haiti, and I've sent a few emails to Amazima Ministries (Founded by Katie Davis, from Kisses From Katie) My hope is to find a Gospel teaching organization in need of a teacher. God is in control, and I need to keep reminding myself of that.
In the mean time, though I long to be in ministry in Africa, it's not just in Africa that I want to serve. I have the wonderful privilege of being a Young Life leader, which has taken up most of my time that I am not working. I'm heavily involved in saratoga YL, and am one of three leaders that run it. We spend time with teenagers in high school, building relationships with them and earning the right to be heard in order to share with them the Gospel and about how greatly Christ loves them and how there is so much more to life in Him.
In YL we provide a safe, healthy and fun environment for kids of all types to come and safely experience a positive atmosphere where the gospel is explained giving them the opportunity to decide who they think Jesus is.
This last Monday one of my Young Life girls asked me a question that was so awesome. We were driving home after one of our YL meetings and it was dark and rainy and we were talking about how hard it is to lose someone we love and she turned to me in the dark and said something I was not expecting.
"Sara, why me?" I paused, hoping she would elaborate on her question. Thankfully she did. "I mean, when God made me, why did he make me, me?" The question was asked in such a beautiful way, this girl truly purely just wanted to know why God made her. What a question!! We ended up spending the rest of the drive home talking about the privilege we have to live a life free in Christ that was designed to be full of joy and love. We talked about her epilepsy and why God would let her be born with it. In the end, we boiled it down to two things: One, God made us to love us and for us to love him, and two, we can use the junk in our lives to even more glorify the Lord, to help others, and to grow in our relationships with Him.
It was a conversation I think I needed more than she did.
Here I am, in America, with purpose and with reason. Yes, at the end of the day, I am so emotionally drained and I'm pretty grumpy and the only thing I want to do is cuddle up with a cat that I do not have. Then I'm reminded of the God that I serve, and how even though I'm not in Africa yet, I can still tell children, teenagers and people around me of His great and unfailing love, of His faithfulness, because He is faithful, He really is, and I will cling to that with all I have.
Thanks God for that conversation, and for Your love.
I've exchanged a few emails with a woman that is involved in a ministry in Zimbabwe, Haiti, and I've sent a few emails to Amazima Ministries (Founded by Katie Davis, from Kisses From Katie) My hope is to find a Gospel teaching organization in need of a teacher. God is in control, and I need to keep reminding myself of that.
In the mean time, though I long to be in ministry in Africa, it's not just in Africa that I want to serve. I have the wonderful privilege of being a Young Life leader, which has taken up most of my time that I am not working. I'm heavily involved in saratoga YL, and am one of three leaders that run it. We spend time with teenagers in high school, building relationships with them and earning the right to be heard in order to share with them the Gospel and about how greatly Christ loves them and how there is so much more to life in Him.
In YL we provide a safe, healthy and fun environment for kids of all types to come and safely experience a positive atmosphere where the gospel is explained giving them the opportunity to decide who they think Jesus is.
This last Monday one of my Young Life girls asked me a question that was so awesome. We were driving home after one of our YL meetings and it was dark and rainy and we were talking about how hard it is to lose someone we love and she turned to me in the dark and said something I was not expecting.
"Sara, why me?" I paused, hoping she would elaborate on her question. Thankfully she did. "I mean, when God made me, why did he make me, me?" The question was asked in such a beautiful way, this girl truly purely just wanted to know why God made her. What a question!! We ended up spending the rest of the drive home talking about the privilege we have to live a life free in Christ that was designed to be full of joy and love. We talked about her epilepsy and why God would let her be born with it. In the end, we boiled it down to two things: One, God made us to love us and for us to love him, and two, we can use the junk in our lives to even more glorify the Lord, to help others, and to grow in our relationships with Him.
It was a conversation I think I needed more than she did.
Here I am, in America, with purpose and with reason. Yes, at the end of the day, I am so emotionally drained and I'm pretty grumpy and the only thing I want to do is cuddle up with a cat that I do not have. Then I'm reminded of the God that I serve, and how even though I'm not in Africa yet, I can still tell children, teenagers and people around me of His great and unfailing love, of His faithfulness, because He is faithful, He really is, and I will cling to that with all I have.
Thanks God for that conversation, and for Your love.