Today, I praise God

I am home in PA and I am happy. I love it here. I love what God has called me to. I love who He allows me to know.

My heart is welling up today with so much. So much of all I have for the Lord. I am not sure I can express what God has shown to me today about His grace, His sufficiency, and His undying and unending love.

This morning, my boss and I shared a lengthy phone conversation with my coworker in India. I was blessed and overwhelmed by God’s touch on his life, the way he has been called to some very difficult places in life by choosing integrity over the crowd. I am humbled to know men of faith who choose Jesus even when it would be so easy to “slightly bend the rules” for the sake of ease of life. As our brother in India was sharing, I teared up numerous times as I thought of the pain he has gone through, but the tears were not just in grief, they were in joy. God has given him so much grace. He has had to leave the Bible College grounds where he has been living and move to a different town to rent a new house. Why? Because he spoke against the lack of integrity and dishonesty he saw in the leadership there. I love him for that. He shared a couple of verses out of Genesis – Genesis 46:3-4 "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes." What an incredible promise from our Lord.

He may call us out of our comfort zones, doing great things in the land He calls us to, only to return us better than before and to the land HE has planned for us. Anyway. Amazing God story number 1.

Amazing God story number 2: There is a bishop traveling here from Rwanda. Bishop Abel first came to my office last week and visited again today. He is a bishop over a cluster of churches who run a program we work with in Rwanda. He came very much intentionally into my office today, said to me in his broken English, “I want to come to your office; I want to share with you.” He brought greetings from the director we work with in Rwanda, named Francine and welcomed me to their country anytime, he also brought greetings and stories from others I know in Africa. It’s amazing how small the world is in God’s kingdom... Anyway, as I spoke with this very tall African man with very beautiful dark skin, I noticed how sweet and gentle he is, but that along with that gentleness he also carries so much authority. He oversees 48 congregations in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo. If you know anything about these countries, you know they are war torn. He shared with me about the war and the effects of it from 1994 (some of you have seen Hotel Rwanda). The leader of the program we work with is a single mother of two children. The bishop has eight children and he and his wife help Francine with her children and their finances. When I asked if her husband died in the war, the bishop told me he had. I carried on a 20 minute conversation with this man and as he spoke, my heart swelled. I think the Spirit of God was allowing me to feel just a touch of His heart. As I choked back tears, this man continued (in very broken English) to share stories of war, of the aftermath of the war, of life today. He shared about how God’s church is growing, even among the remote tribes. He told me of all the single mothers caring for children who will never know their father. But God is good. And He is more than enough for them. While Bishop Abel was sharing his stories, I wasn’t so much struck by the death and the tragedy, but by the message of hope in his words. He was not telling me these stories for sadness or grief, but for joy and for praise to God who rescues.

I am challenged. I am moved. I am hopefully changed. I hope that daily I will become less of the person I was yesterday or today and to be transformed more in the image of Christ.

I don’t know why I’m sharing all of this with you, except to share with you HOW GREAT God is. He amazes me. I can sit in my boss’ office in PA in the morning, hearing how God is moving in India and a few hours later, I can sit in my office, in PA, and talk to a man from Rwanda with so much gentleness, hurt, and hope in his eyes. I wish you could meet some of these people God allows me to know. I can’t believe it. Maybe I needed to share this with you today to say thank you. I know you pray. I know you sacrifice to support me. I know you love the Lord. For all of that, I say thank you and I thank God for you. Thank you for helping me live this life I really never could have dreamed of. I know there is nothing in me that deserves this, but I am incredibly grateful that I get to experience this. I am more and more convinced God is, as my friend Mark shared with me the other night, showing me that the nations are literally as close to me as reaching into my fridge. I can do so much more from here than I could by traveling to another country and for that I am grateful. (not that I think there should be no foreign missionaries)

With adoration, joy, and a heart of gratitude, Jenny