T.I.A

T.I.A- This is Africa. It's the phrase our team uses at times when we are experiencing something different, we enjoy something great about Nigeria, etc. Our experiences here have been on the one hand so extremely different than anything before, and yet on the other so familiar it feels as if we haven't left America. There are times of routine, times of laughter, times of grieving, times of spontaneity, times of teasing, times of dancing, times of praying, times of walking, times of running, times of speaking, times of listening, times of experiencing something new, times of teaching something new. All of these things are my Africa so far, which is why it is strange when I say to myself, "you're living in Africa right now." It seems surreal.

I have enjoyed myself immensely while here. It is about the halfway mark for our stay. There are so many things to say. Where do we begin to express all he's doing in us and through us. I know for me personally I am being stretched in the area of giving. I don't desire to be selfish, but I struggle with giving out of my need and not out of excess. I see the ways the Lord is pursuing me to be a giving person. I lost my favorite ring the other day and was so discouraged but realized that I was loosing something dear to me, because I wasn't eager or willing to give significant articles to girls who wanted something to remember me by. Then the other day Megan found it in her bed. I was so thankful but at the same time ultimately humbled by the Lord. I just stuck my head in my hands and sat there. He didn't have to give my ring back. His generosity was overwhelming to me. I need to be generous and giving, thinking heavenward and not close fisted around the things I cannot take with me. Please pray I would be a cheerful giver, that as the Shane and Shane song says, "Lord I know if you change my mind, you will change my heart in time," that he would change my mind and my heart about my material possessions and about the Jesus way of giving.

I laugh when I think the Lord has brought me to Africa to teach me how to give. Only the Lord plans such great things and works in ways as such. I know He loves me when I think about what he wants to do in my life and how much junk he's striving to help rid me of. Thanks be to God for the heat of Africa that He's using to burn away my impurities. This has been my Nigeria so far. This is my Africa.