I've lived a quarter of a century, and I feel pretty good about how it's gone so far. I've developed a few life mantras, loved and been loved, and crossed some goals off my list. I still despise making choices, but in high school I wouldn't have even been able to tell you any of my likes or dislikes. I remember running the three mile loop on the Waterloo bike trail one summer afternoon and thinking to myself, I don't know what I like. It was one step along the way of discovering what I want, a process that is still underway. However, I finished the run by making some decisions. I chose that I would like scrambled eggs, my favorite color would be pink, and that I liked sprinkles on my ice cream. Over the past few years, not only have I discovered more of my likes, but I've also realized more of my talents and desires and have practiced discerning how those intersect with God's will for my life.
One of the things that my life keeps circling back to is Uganda. This month marks seven years since my first trip to Uganda in July of 2008. Reflecting on the journey that God has had me on since then truly blows me away. Each journey to Uganda, every job that I've had or haven't had, has truly been a process with amazing testimonies.
Over the past few months, I've found myself meditating on God's love for me. My constant prayer is that I would grow in my awareness of it and have deeper revelation of how great it is for me. Even as I sit here and write this, the song "How Deep the Father's Love" is playing in the background. Coincidence? Probably not. I want to know it deeper, and I think God is eager to show me. How God orchestrates things in my life is one way He affirms his love for me. But, another way God shows me how much He loves me is by using His people.
The past year has been a whirlwind. After dinner with a teacher friend last July, a few prayers, and a couple of difficult decisions, I started teaching at Omaha North High Magnet in August. I loved the Hope Center for Kids, where I was previously working, and the opportunity to make a job change was swift and unexpected. Leaving a place you love to enter an unfamiliar place is scary and risky. But, God was so good through it. I'm not called to comfortable. Interviewing for the job, resigning from a job I loved, and meeting students within a span of 5 days reminded me of that. However, the staff at Hope was gracious and loving and wished me well as I transitioned. Meanwhile, the staff at North welcomed me with open arms. Through a year of learning even more about my strengths, facing my insecurities, and bearing heartaches with my students, I developed strong friendships within our staff and built anticipation for my future years of teaching.
Naturally, one of the first thoughts I had when I became a teacher was about what I would do with my summer. But before I could even let my mind go crazy with the possibilities, Uganda was ringing in my heart. I mentioned the idea of going to Uganda to a couple of close friends and started praying.
In October, my dear friend Gabriel and I spent the morning together worshiping at a church where God showed up and made his love known to us. That afternoon I was sitting at home, spending time with the Lord when my prayer intercessor, Francine, called. "Kelsea," she said. "Are you planning on going on a trip overseas anytime?" I told her that I'd been praying about returning to Uganda, and she replied, "I was making the bed in the guest room while praying about you, and I just had a strong impression upon my heart that you were going to be going back."
After that phone call, more prayer, and a few conversations with friends, I was pretty sure I would be going back this summer, but I didn't know how it would happen.
On a Thursday night in April, Gabriel gathered some friends together for dinner. My friend Bill created an exquisite meal, and we sat around the table together sharing our hearts. After dinner, we sat in the family room, and Gabriel led a time of blessing me. The dear friends in the room shared words of affirmation verbally, written on cards, and through prayer. Sitting in the midst of such overwhelming love, I was physically felt God's love for me. Then, Gabriel handed me one last envelope. An envelope with a gift. A gift collected by my friends to get me to Uganda this summer.
I woke up that Sunday morning wishing I could go to UBC in Mbarara and testify about how the Lord had used my friends and what all He had done. Almost instantaneously, God put it on my heart that regardless of where I am, I needed to share the testimonies of what He had done! I went to CityLight that morning and in the sermon Gavin also talked about sharing the testimonies. I was again reminded of how much God loves me that He would speak directly to my heart. I often think about the Runyankore name my friend Sophie, from Uganda, gave me. Ankunda. Back when she gave it to me in 2011, she explained that it meant "He loves me". God loves me.
Sophie said, “Let me ask you, can you live without blood
in your body?” As I sat silently, she said, “No, and love is like blood.
You can’t live without it in your body.”
Overwhelmed with the love of God that Sunday sitting in church and motivated to share the testimonies of what God has done in my life, I followed through on an idea I'd had for a while.
It's taken me a while to process the overwhelming love of these friends,
and I have yet to appropriately express my gratitude. Because of their
generosity, Monday I'm leaving Omaha on a plane to Uganda. The anticipation I have to see my beloved friends there is swelling in my heart. I can't believe that I get to have relationships on opposite sides of the world with whom I can authentically share life. I know that it is because of the radical love of Jesus that this is possible, and I'm so excited to share and receive that love with my friends in Uganda. And then get to experience it again as I share in the U.S. about my time in Uganda.
Lord, you are so good to me!
