Sometimes I'm just really surprised by the sweetness of God. One example happened recently, and I'm still reveling in how specifically He answered a prayer I almost was afraid to pray. (If you have been paying attention, this is a recurring theme during the Africa trip. Yes, I am a little dense.)
Way back when Alli and I first started considering that maybe God was really telling us to trust Him and try to travel to Swaziland, we kept wondering what in the world we could DO there. We had the desire to go, just felt a bit ill-equipped to make much of an impact. Several encouraging friends reminded us of our passions and that the Lord could use those if He desired, and we were grateful to imagine the possibilities. They said that maybe we'd do more once we got back; we had to go to be stretched and shown how it would change us, and then when we returned, we would be able to act and encourage others to as well.
Our conversations and thoughts generally came back to these ideas:
What if the storyteller and writer wannabe in me actually got to hear a few
Swazi testimonies and could write them down to come back
and share with our American friends?
How cool would that be?! How amazing would it be if Alli could take photos,
something she enjoys so much, and then those photographs could be used to
share the actual faces of people in Swaziland who need support and prayer?
We even asked that ya'll pray we could do that in some way, back on this blog, in February. We dreamed and giggled over how we would just love that, and then scolded ourselves in the next breath over thinking WE could do something that would reach others. Then we'd admit that really, it would be God anyway, and we hoped He would let us be part of something super cool. We were dreaming on a more local level - like sharing with our girlfriends and families we know and love - not a big-scale TV broadcast or anything. We just hoped and thought and repeatedly said, "Who knows what He might do? Whatever it is, we can't wait to see!"
So much challenged us in Swaziland that we really felt like was exactly for us - lessons we needed to learn and moments of trusting that were a huge part of the point of the trip. Sometimes we wondered if we were really actually sent to Africa to learn lessons we just had been blind to here at home. And, that would have been a huge answer to prayer in itself, if that had been the only things we gained. But, we sure did gain a lot more, and witnessed a world so different than ours that to this day, I still am perplexed by...the great disparity in lives here and our friends in a continent across the ocean. Processing continues, praying for guidance as we ask, "So now what?"
Then, the cool, surprise, dream came true. A new friend asked if perhaps we could write an article and submit some photos for an online magazine she helps edit.
!!!!!!!
Can I just say that this pretty much rocked our socks off?!! I wish you could have seen how excited and giddy we were, and how it made both Alli and me teary multiple times. We hardly knew this young lady, didn't know she was an editor, and did not even have to ask for the chance to contribute. We were being given a neat opportunity, to share from our hearts, and whoa - the pressure to not mess up was also there too. We didn't want to blow that opportunity by saying anything frivolous, but how to summarize a life-changing week into 500 words or less was a daunting task. After piddling with it many days, and coming back and forth to it, trying to decide how to really explain the beauty of the Swazi culture and the faith of those people we love, and also humbly admit our own shortcomings and doubts, was complicated. And, it was a bit more than 500 words. Surprise! :-)
I'm so grateful that the editors had favor on me, allowed the whole article to be published, and that Alli's beautiful images grace the story we shared. Also, her word picture led me to the Scripture that then inspired the title and became the crux of the story I tried to convey. Thank you, wonderful friend! I'm especially glad that being asked to write about the trip helped me finally put words to the thoughts I had been struggling with. What a precious blessing and how amazed we are that again, God has been so generous to us. We are praying that others are touched by the story, but also that through this process, we are even further reminded of the knowledge we gained through a week in Africa.
