Nothing ever seems to be predictable where I'm concerned. My life seems to have a way of getting turned upside down every now and then with the unexpected always just around the corner...I'm not complaining, far from it. I'm so glad my life is the way it is, I love it, but it does make it hard to keep up sometimes. (For the record, you should be careful what you pray for...a few years ago I asked God to let me travel the world and see places and things I've never seen before...and he's well and truly answering that prayer...)
Right now, I’m sat in bed, with my bags packed (apart from my toothbrush), my boarding pass printed from the online check in, a sense that it’s not all real yet and a party over the road providing a soundtrack for the evening. The reason being that I’m back off to Zambia...tomorrow!
Right now, I’m sat in bed, with my bags packed (apart from my toothbrush), my boarding pass printed from the online check in, a sense that it’s not all real yet and a party over the road providing a soundtrack for the evening. The reason being that I’m back off to Zambia...tomorrow!
Over the last couple of weeks as I’ve been telling people I’m going back to Zambia, the standard response has been “Oh, I didn’t know you were going again”...well, the truth is, I didn’t know I was going again either! It’s all come about pretty quickly...
Dignity has had a trip during the second half of September in its diary for a while now and it had been on my mind that I could possibly go. I hadn’t committed to it though as I had booked 2 weeks off work in August to help out at a CPAS Cyfa camp. I figured I wouldn’t be able to get more time off work so soon after and hadn’t really asked about it. But I prayed about it and said I’d be willing to go if that was where God wanted me to be and left it at that.
Little did I know one of those unpredictable turns in life was just around the corner. In July I found out I was going to be made redundant from my job as an architect...all of a sudden I found myself with plenty of time on my hands...but a whole lot less money! I started thinking maybe I could go now I had the time available but had my doubts about spending what money I do have on an air fare when there's no definite work lined up on my return - wouldn’t that be stupidity? Amazingly, just a couple of days after finding out I'd soon be redundant, an old employer contacted me to ask whether I'd be interested in possibly coming back to work there...but this was far from definite and whilst it was a possibility, it wasn't a surety. I would have to trust that if I was to go, spending what money I do have on a ticket, God would provide the work or the money for me to live on my return.
Once again, I prayed about it and asked God to make it abundantly clear to me whether it was the right thing for me to go or not...I would take that step of faith if it was right, but wanted to be 100% sure and not just rush into something stupid. Two days after I had prayed about it I was talking to a friend over lunch. Out of the blue, he and his wife offered to pay for my ticket to Zambia...I couldn’t believe it! God had freed up my time...and was now providing the money I needed as well...all I had to do, was go! It’s a rare occurrence, but I was quite literally lost for words. Such generosity can be hard to receive, both from a friend and from God. It’s quite humbling when someone just gives you all you need to enable something to happen. Being quite fiercely independent by nature I find it hard to accept such generosity knowing that I cannot do anything to repay it...all I can do is say thank you and use the gift given wisely. (Oddly, I am quite happy to be the one who gives things to others, I just find it really hard to be the recipient.) I think it’s the same as when we think about how much Jesus has done for us, laying down his life for each one of us so that we can have life in all it’s fullness...and there is nothing we can do to repay it. It can be hard to accept that gift because of our determination to do it all ourself...
Throughout the last two months where everything in my life has been uncertain and totally up and down I have felt nothing but peace, a deep sense of calm resting on my heart. There has been the odd flutter of fear about finding work and having enough money to live but these have been so short lived and soon overcome by this great sense of peace. Time and again, God’s timing in bringing things together has been perfect, from the overall plan to the little details. I feel like it says it Philippians 4 v 7... “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” This has been an even greater gift that I’ve been given. Without this peace, I think I’d be a wreck by now!
So, once again and for the fourth time, I'm off to Zambia, but only for a short visit this time...just two weeks! I'm really excited to be getting the chance to go back and get stuck in again. Whilst I've carried on being involved with Dignity here in Manchester (doing lots of behind the scenes stuff necessary to help keep things ticking over) it's not quite the same as actually going to visit the people I spend time praying for and seeking to help. So, yey...I'm excited!
In the two weeks I'm there I'll be helping out at two Life! conferences, in different areas, run by Dignity. At these conferences we will meet with between 30 and 40 people who want to start a Life! group in their village. Life! groups are simply groups of people that meet together in a village from different church backgrounds and the wider community. In rural Zambian communities there can be a legacy of division and competition, rooted in the deep desire to survive that we all have. We seek to challenge that, starting at the roots...
Each Life! group has two aims; firstly to learn more about how to serve God individually and together and secondly to find ways of practically living that out by helping people in the community: faith and action growing hand in hand.
The conferences I'll be involved with will help these groups get off the ground and to be organised within the areas we’re working, so right from the beginning, the groups will be owned by the local people. Dignity will continue to support them but will also be encouraging local leaders to step up and take the work forward.
As people have grown in faith and understanding, the changes we have seen in villages where Life! groups have taken places are amazing...unity has grown in previously divided communities, husbands have stopped beating their wives, people have broken free of alcoholism, crime rates have dropped and eldery people and orphans have been cared for as people and churches have begun to work together!
I’m so excited to be going back and getting involved again...it really is a privilege and a joy. Saying that though, I’ve just had a reminder of some of the less fun sides of it as a giant (well, giant by English standards) spider legged it across my bedroom floor at high speed. I had to prevent the reactionary girly scream that nearly escaped me, man-up a bit, catch it and chuck it out of the window!! I can’t be letting a puny English spider scare me if I’m going to cope camping out in the bushlands of Zambia again!!
And on that note...I’m going to call it a day and get some sleep...if I can...I’m rather excited about tomorrow’s adventure!!
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Just a couple of other things...
If you’re the praying type:
Thank God for, his perfect timing and provision, the way he can weave together all the different things in each of our lives, all to his glory...and for so many answers to prayer along the way.
Please do pray for safe journeys, both for me and for those joining us at the two conferences - they may not have as far to travel, but they will each be coming a substantial distance by foot or bike. Pray for God to be at work in each of our hearts as we gather together at the conferences and also for God to be preparing the ground in the villages where Life! groups will soon be starting.
And one last thing...
I would really love to raise enough money to cover the costs of one of the two conferences I’m helping at...for just £300 we can feed all the people who come along to one conference and also provide them with the "Rooted in Jesus" books to help them start a discipleship group in their village. (If I managed to raise enough for both conferences that would be AMAZING!!) In my mind, equipping people to bring hope and change to their own villages really is money well spent! If you want to help cover the costs of one of these conferences please visit www.justgiving.com/jogoestoafrica - any money you give here will go directly to Dignity and the work they are doing in rural Zambia, along with any Gift Aid that can be claimed on your donation.
