Whatever May Come…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned while I’ve been in South Africa, it is this: When God is moving in powerful ways, the enemy will  do all he can to stop it.  The past few weeks have been a grim reminder of that.  At the first trial our team stood still.  Unable to move or breathe for what felt like hours as we listened, processed, and prayed.  And our leaders allowed us that time.  And then, they reminded us that while it’s okay to grieve and cry and hurt – we must remember WHY we are doing what we are here – to feed the hungry and to take care of the orphans, just as Jesus commanded us to do so many times throughout the New Testament.  And we reminded ourselves of this very truth – the enemy only interferes where he sees God’s hand mightily at work.  We took comfort in that, knowing that this will not cannot stop us.  We’ve been reminded to dress daily in our  spiritual armor, and be watchful for where it may be that the enemy is lurking.

We picked ourselves back up and continued our work without hesitation, without question.  We went back with a renewed purpose, knowing that we are doing this work because we love Jesus beyond anything else, and it’s because of His love that we are here.  And then, the second trial hits.  After the first one, anything else seems like a smaller storm, but none the less, it’s there, and it threatens to shut down the work we’re doing in one of our areas.  And we truly believe that whatever may come, God’s plan for our work is better than we can imagine – whatever may come,  we serve a God who is much more powerful than we could ever imagine, and He is much stronger than the enemy.  Our God is faithful, loving, and kind.  The work He starts, He promises to complete it. 

Then it hits in a personal way.  Several years ago, I had to have emergency eye surgery to reattach my retina.  Since then, I have to see a specialist each year to make sure that everything is still attached properly and that I’m not in danger of losing my eyesight in that particular eye.  Just having visited him right before I left, everything was good, and his parting words were “have fun in Africa!”  Since I’ve been here, this particular eye has bothered me, but not with any signs or symptoms that the specialist always tells me to watch for.  In fact, I can’t really describe HOW it’s bothering me – just that it is.  Yesterday was by far the worst day with it, and as I emailed back and forth with the specialist’s office, I suddenly became overwhelmed with fear.  Not necessarily fear that something IS wrong, but fear of being so far away from my doctor, fear of what I don’t know.  As I laid in bed last night, I began praying that whatever may be the case with my eye, that God would protect it, and if there is damage, that no more damage would incur until I can get back and see the specialist.  That God would heal what may be.  And as I began praying these things, I realized that I haven’t been trusting Him to take care of me.  I’ve been looking at my eye and eyesight as something He couldn’t handle.  I realize that in this particular way, I let my guard down and let the enemy seep thoughts into my head.  I’m not saying that I’m not freaked out anymore by any of this, but I’m trusting that whatever it is, whatever may happen – God’s got all of it under His control.  He’s holding me in the palm of His hand, and He’s going to get me through.

We must learn to keep our guard {against the enemy} up at all times.  As people who seek to serve the Lord wholeheartedly, we can’t stop believing that the enemy is real.  We can’t stop believing that he wants to tear into us, creating a massive gap between us and God.  He wants to, friends.  Trust me, I’ve seen it up close and personal.  We must remain steadfast, we must remain in the Lord at all times.  He is good, He is true, He is beyond faithful.  We must believe and know that God has our back – whatever may come.