Singing Feet

We have reached the middle of our trip. If you read my last blog you know that I've been struggling a bit with just being tired. Tired of meeting new people all the time and trying remember what to say to them. Tired of packing up every three days and moving to a new place. Tired of being uncomfortable. I had been struggling with this all week. But this is what I wrote down Sunday morning:

This morning I woke up with a song in my heart. A morning after two weeks of just being so tired and ready to not necessarily go home, but to go somewhere more comfortable. The last few days I've had a hard time thinking of things to thank God for. I'm tired, my body aches and my head afflicted with the common cold. But even through it all God sent me a song from my childhood. "Thank you! Oh thank you, my God for what you've done. You gave the greatest gift of all. Thank you for your only Son!" If I cannot give thanks for the things surrounding me, at least I can give thanks for the greatest thing of all. God's gift to all mankind. If we have nothing else in this world, we at least have the love of Jesus and that is enough.

That morning in church our team leader gave the sermon, speaking from Isaiah 1:10-17 and Romans 12:1-2. I encourage you to go and read them for yourselves, but they talk about living for God and giving our lives as a sacrifice. Here are my notes from the sermon.

 

The biggest thing I got from the message was that this world is not our home, and when we try to conform to this world we are trying to get comfortable. But when Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow Him, He didn't promise comfort. In fact, he pretty much guaranteed that it would be uncomfortable. 

So the next time that I get tired of not having a real toilet, when I can't remember how to respond to someone when they say "Nantandala uli?" I just have to remember why I'm here. What my purpose is on this trip and in this life. And that is to bring glory Jesus. 

Praise: Today we went to get our visas renewed. Apparently when we came back into Zambia from Zimbabwe they messed up on my passport. Drew and Lauren got the 30 day visas that we requested, but I only got 20 days. I've been in Zambia illegally for 10 days!! The immigration officer was very nice though and they didn't throw me in jail :) Drew said that he was the nicest officer he's dealt with so far.