This Beautiful Mess

Recently I picked up the book Kisses from Katie.  If you have not heard of Katie Davis, you should look her up.   Katie Davis lives in Jinja, Uganda with her 13 adopted children where she directs a ministry that reaches hundreds of children throughout Uganda.  Did I mention she is 23??  Anyway, as I have been reading her book, Katie keeps talking about how in love she is with the country and about how many simple yet beautiful things she has encountered.   I decided that my personal prayer for the week would be:

To see beauty in the midst of turmoil and chaos of the world.  To see God’s hand at work even when there is so much destruction and corruption that can snatch away my attention.

Tuesday:

-         -  Waves and smiles from the children at God’s Grace Orphanage as our bus dropped off another team there.

-          - Sitting next to a tree, holding the hands of a prisoner, and praying for her freedom and return back home to her four children.

Wednesday:

-         -  In class we watched a Louis Giglio sermon from a Passion conference entitled Symphony of Praise.  I nearly bawled my eyes out like four times.  In the video, Louis blended different sounds from nature and then played the track How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin with it.  Hauntingly beautiful was the best to describe it as different sounds from all over creation worshipped God.  Click here to watch a video on it.

-          - The central team in our district pastor’s office laughing our faces off.

-         -  My friend Jackie quizzing me on Luganda words and my memory verses.

Thursday:

-          - Playing with a long string until it breaks with five barefooted toddlers out on the porch at God’s Grace

-          - A fourteen year old boy shares with me how thankful he is to have been at God’s Grace for the past five years instead of living on the streets.

At God’s Grace Orphanage, you can find those beautiful moments even when you see a child only wearing one sock and shoe to school, see a stream of urine dribble from a diaper-less child on the porch, or have your clothes filthy dirty after hugging children who probably only have one or two sets of clothes and haven’t bathed in days.  Even in extreme poverty, I can sense an overwhelming presence of love throughout the place.

At this point in my week, I was thinking that my challenge of finding beauty in the midst of chaos wasn’t as difficult as I thought.  Like a slap in the face, I thought wrong.  Here is my journal entry from when I returned back to the church after visiting God’s Grace Orphanage.

I’m in a thick of a cloud today and I do not know why or how to get out of it.  It’s so difficult to see beauty in the midst of corruption and destruction.  It’s so hard to focus on the smiles and laughs at God’s Grace when I then see a mob outside the church beating a man to death for stealing a laptop from a nearby store.  It is so hard to see beauty as those around me flock to the balcony’s edge to watch in excitement.  It is so hard to be the one to walk away.  It is so hard to pray for God to bring justice to the thief and save his life.  Why does destruction overpower the beautiful things? 

Yeah…. To say I was a little discouraged after that moment would be an understatement but quitting my challenge would not solve anything.  The enemy will not win.

Friday:

-         -  Our bus driver showing us how he laminated the birthday card we made for him

-          - My friend sharing her life story with such bravery and courage in front of the entire class

Saturday:

-         -  The girls in our class were asked to help out at Watoto’s women’s conference called Daughter’s of Destiny.  We set up a booth for women to get free manicures during breaks at the conference.  One of the key-note speakers was the Executive Director of Kampala aka the mayor of Kampala.  All my discouragement from Thursday melted away as Jennifer spoke.  Let me tell you, this woman is a mustard seed in a corrupted government.  Because of Jennifer, there is now a water fountain and garden outside of Central church with promise of more gardens to go around the city.  Because of Jennifer, lots of property and money has been returned throughout Kampala.  Her job is not easy but she does it because, in her words, “God has placed me here for this period of time to act in this role.”  Jennifer is slowly beginning to infiltrate the government with restoration and justice even if it means risking her life (many people want her and her family killed).   Hope is rising in Uganda.   Restoration will not happen overnight but things have been gradually developing over time.

Sunday:

-         -  For the past three Sundays, this new couple from church have been handing their two year old to me crying his eyes out for Children’s Church.  He will eventually calm down and timidly observe the happenings of the crazy Amazing Class.  This Sunday, he got up to dance with the other children for the first time as we sang silly songs.

-          - Hearing my name called at the gate of our house by the children that live down the street.

Monday:

-         -  Teaching my friend how to swim at Kabira Country Club on our day off.

In conclusion to my week’s challenge, this world is a mess but I am called to put on God’s eyes to see what is beautiful in the midst of it all.  People screw up but we can fix what is unjust or corrupted by walking away or doing small acts towards restoration.

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things out of us

Lyrics from this song: Gungor’s Beautiful Things

Peace and love