A couple of weeks ago, I got the incredible honor to be able to write 2 blog posts for Tumaini International Ministries. I just wanted to put the link here so you can read it too! I am grateful for this opportunity and blessing!
Part 1: http://hopeforforgottenkids.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/share-the-love-love-through-prayer-by-guest-blogger-emily-hoverson-part-1/
Part 2: http://hopeforforgottenkids.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/salute-to-sponsors-guest-blogger-emily-hoverson-pt-2/
ENJOY.
We serve a BIG God and I am grateful to simply be a (very) small part of His magnificent plan.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Jesus.
This morning, in church, I got hit hard. I got hit with this aching pain of simply wanting to be home. I want to be back where the roads are dirt, the children's smiles are HUGE, the joyful church services, the smell in the air is of burning trash, and the mosquitoes love to bite! I want to HAVE to wash my dishes and my clothes by hand, I want to not be quite sure if the water will work when I wake up for me to take a shower, I want to not be totally sure what the heck I am eating but eat it anyways out of respect. I could do all of those things here but to be honest, I don't have to.
Something that hit me hard this morning was the truth that it's easy to be close to God when you are in a place where death and poverty are as normal as fast food in America. I remember feeling closest to Jesus as I bent down and tied the shoes of an orphan preschooler, or when I held the baby of a widowed mother. I have seen Jesus and I have seen his face and I know that HE is REAL. Yet, sometimes its hard to see. As I have now been home for 6 months and 25 days (yeah, I counted) and I have fallen into the trap of things that seem so small when I am "home". I sometimes spend more money then I actually have, I buy $4 coffee when I could easily go without, I buy clothes I don't need (and don't even suit my time in Masii), I eat food I am not actually hungry for, and I worry about small frugal things.
This may seem like normal to you but for me, I hate it but I almost feel trapped. As I sit here on my comfy bed, with more then enough blankets on it, with my nice computer, in my nice safe home, I can't help but long for days that I don't necessarily have all these things, but the joy that comes from the people in my home of Masii, out weighs all the "goods" of this world.
Today I was thinking about how easy it is for me to be close to Jesus as, it seems that things are simpler for me while in Masii, it's easy because its my favorite and most safe place in the whole world. As I sit back and think about this last week or even the last month or so, I have found a safe place here, a place where I can be myself and not mind what others think, yet I have felt like I am constantly banging my head against a wall. I have felt bad because I haven't necessarily trusted the Lord in every part of my life here, because, well frankly its hard. I know it sounds pathetic but it's true, for me it's easy to trust God in the midst of poverty but its hard to trust Him in the midst of a failing class or an empty gas tank. For most this seems obvious, but for me, its just frustrating. I have trusted the Lord in my life even when odd things happen, but I hate when I feel as though I am holding something back from my Savior.
But then I am reminded, as He whispers in my ear once again, what He thinks and loves about me and His big plans for my life. He reminds me that I feel as though He is far away because my heart is 9,000 miles away in Masii. I am not a horrible person because I buy $4 coffee or buy clothes I don't need. I am not this horrible Christian because I would rather live in a community of Kenyans then Americans. Jesus has ravished my heart and taken it to a place that it never wants to come back from, and it's ok to trust Jesus with every part of my heart, all the time.
Something that hit me hard this morning was the truth that it's easy to be close to God when you are in a place where death and poverty are as normal as fast food in America. I remember feeling closest to Jesus as I bent down and tied the shoes of an orphan preschooler, or when I held the baby of a widowed mother. I have seen Jesus and I have seen his face and I know that HE is REAL. Yet, sometimes its hard to see. As I have now been home for 6 months and 25 days (yeah, I counted) and I have fallen into the trap of things that seem so small when I am "home". I sometimes spend more money then I actually have, I buy $4 coffee when I could easily go without, I buy clothes I don't need (and don't even suit my time in Masii), I eat food I am not actually hungry for, and I worry about small frugal things.
This may seem like normal to you but for me, I hate it but I almost feel trapped. As I sit here on my comfy bed, with more then enough blankets on it, with my nice computer, in my nice safe home, I can't help but long for days that I don't necessarily have all these things, but the joy that comes from the people in my home of Masii, out weighs all the "goods" of this world.
Today I was thinking about how easy it is for me to be close to Jesus as, it seems that things are simpler for me while in Masii, it's easy because its my favorite and most safe place in the whole world. As I sit back and think about this last week or even the last month or so, I have found a safe place here, a place where I can be myself and not mind what others think, yet I have felt like I am constantly banging my head against a wall. I have felt bad because I haven't necessarily trusted the Lord in every part of my life here, because, well frankly its hard. I know it sounds pathetic but it's true, for me it's easy to trust God in the midst of poverty but its hard to trust Him in the midst of a failing class or an empty gas tank. For most this seems obvious, but for me, its just frustrating. I have trusted the Lord in my life even when odd things happen, but I hate when I feel as though I am holding something back from my Savior.
But then I am reminded, as He whispers in my ear once again, what He thinks and loves about me and His big plans for my life. He reminds me that I feel as though He is far away because my heart is 9,000 miles away in Masii. I am not a horrible person because I buy $4 coffee or buy clothes I don't need. I am not this horrible Christian because I would rather live in a community of Kenyans then Americans. Jesus has ravished my heart and taken it to a place that it never wants to come back from, and it's ok to trust Jesus with every part of my heart, all the time.
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