All that God has Done

I was reading 1 Chronicles 16 yesterday. Most of the chapter is giving thanks to God, because Israel had just received the ark back, and it says in verse 7, ‘That was the day that David inaugurated regular worship of praise to God…’ David’s first response to having the ark put in the tent he had put up for the ark, was to worship and thank God for all He had done. I’ve been home for a couple weeks from Kenya, and looking back on the 7 months I was there, I have so much to be thankful for. I won’t write a beautiful poem of thanks to God the way David did (because I’m not as artsy as that), but I will share with everyone what God has done. You’re already familiar with these things if you’ve been reading my blog, but I want to list them. I don’t want to forget.

The very first Sunday that I saw Daniel (Juma) and Anastasia when I got back to Kenya, we talked for a couple hours. They told me how they had ideas to become completely self-sufficient. They didn’t want to have to rely on donors anymore to send their kids to school, to feed their family, and for other needs that they had. They had a five year plan to look for land, start growing food on it, and over time, buy it so they could then move onto it. They wanted land big enough to raise their family on and support all their needs.

Within just a couple of months, one of Juma’s friends told him he was selling a piece of property just outside of town, about a 10 minute drive from where the Juma family was living. It was a farm, bigger than the property they had been living on, between 4-5 acres of land. They made an agreement, and they switched property so Juma only had to pay the balance that was left. A couple more months later the Juma family finally moved on to it; and they were happy! It was so much bigger, so that means it was a lot more work to take care of, but no one seemed to mind! They were happy to have land big enough for their animals, and land big enough to grow their food.

When they first moved onto the land, Juma said he was trusting God to provide for the balance they had left to pay. They had a few months to pay, but when the time came, Juma didn’t have all the money they needed. And the previous owner threatened to take away the land. Juma called me and asked to meet with me. He told me the whole story and he asked me to pray. So I came home and asked my family and their church to pray too. Within a week, so many people from the church had given to the Juma family, that they were able to pay off the land in full. Juma and his wife had a five year plan. God took care of it in seven months. This family was blown away by God’s incredible blessings, and it’s teaching me to trust in God’s timing for all things. They paid off the land, in full, a few days before I left. It was an incredible thing to see!

Another thing that God did in seven months, that I thought would take years, if it happened at all, was that Juma started using the Bible course I had given him to start discipling a young man from his area. Before I even went to Kenya last year, I had always wanted the Bible course that Paul and Jayne had written to be used there. It was written for the African culture, and they respond well to it. Last year, when I met Juma, I was talking about it and he was very interested in it. I ended up giving him the Bible study, and he has continued in it, and really enjoys going through it. I never told him that I wanted to see him teach it to others someday. But that was a huge goal that I had; that a Kenyan would use this to teach other Kenyans, and that discipleship would spread that way. I prayed about it, but again, I never told Juma that was a goal that I had. He is so busy I never thought he could find the time to add something like that into his schedule. I don’t know that I ever would have asked him to do it. But God did it. Juma even has other young people in mind to go through this course with, and I pray that God will continue spreading His word through all the people who are changed by it, and that true disciples are raised up in Kenya. Personally, that is what made me the happiest. I really thought it would take years for something like that to happen, and I had absolutely no idea how to go about having Kenyans teach through this course. I didn’t know how to set something like that up, how to approach it, how to make people interested in it. And God did it all, in seven months. Juma told me about this a few weeks before I left.

Another blessing for the Juma family came in the form of a couple other missionary families partnering with them to start home churches. Every Sunday, I went to the Juma home for church. Juma kept his kids at home, and he taught them there (churches and pastors in Kenya are incredibly corrupt, so they started church in their home a couple years ago). I have no idea why, and I don’t know that I’ll ever understand it, but they really, really liked me being with them on Sundays. They kept saying I was the only white person who would do something like that, but they were my Kenyan family. So I was with them. When I decided to come home, I was hoping that wouldn’t be a discouragement for them. And then Juma told me that two missionary families who want to start home churches, went to him to ask him what he did, and if he’d be willing to partner with them and help them out. And then on some Sundays, they could all meet together. Juma was so encouraged and thankful for this! And it was even an encouragement to me, to see other people wanting to follow his example, and walk alongside him. Juma told me about this a few weeks before I left, also.

I also had to the chance to give my friend Caroline the first few books of the Bible course that I had started editing for children. She has an eight-year-old, and she said she wanted to go through it with him. I have no idea what will come of that, and if she really will, but I was happy to give it to her the day before I left!

I went to Kenya thinking I’d be there for a really, really long time. I wanted to get people into the Bible course I was doing, and I thought that would take forever. And in the first six months, I didn’t see anything happening. I actually spent my first couple of months digging and planting in my garden, and helping Betsy with the girls in the internship program. Then I spent the last few months writing and editing the Bible course for children. And none of those things really had much to do with Kenya. I enjoyed my time with the girls a lot; it reminded me of when I had discipled a couple girls in Washington when I was living there, and I loved it. But it had nothing to do with Kenya. The girls were American girls. Then I started writing, and I thought God really brought me all the way to Kenya to write? Because I can write anywhere. And then after six months, I decided to come back home because God made that clear to me. And then in the last three weeks of my trip, God just did so much that my head was spinning, and I came home so thankful that God has much bigger, better plans than I could even imagine. We have a big, big God. We really can’t comprehend Him. What I thought would take years, God was willing and able to do in months; and He definitely did more than I was expecting, too. I didn’t even know till I got to Kenya that the Juma family wanted to move, and I had no idea I’d end up starting to edit the Bible course for children and actually give the material to someone. It’s like God brought me to Kenya, just to watch Him work and show His great power, and then He brought me back home. Why don’t we expect much more than we do of our Almighty God? He is capable, and He is willing.

1 Chronicles 16:8 – 37:
‘Give thanks to the LORD; call on His name; proclaim His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him; sing praise to Him; tell about all His wonderful works! Honor His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Search for the LORD and for His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonderful works He has done, His wonders, and the judgments He has pronounced, you offspring of Israel His servant, Jacob’s descendants--His chosen ones. He is the LORD our God; His judgments govern the whole earth. Remember His covenant forever--the promise He ordained for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, swore to Isaac, and confirmed to Jacob as a decree, and to Israel as an everlasting covenant: “I will give the land of Canaan to you as your inherited portion.” When they were few in number, very few indeed, and temporary residents in Canaan wandering from nation to nation and from one kingdom to another, He allowed no one to oppress them; He rebuked kings on their behalf: “Do not touch My anointed ones or harm My prophets.” Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Proclaim His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonderful works among all peoples. For the LORD is great and is highly praised; He is feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His place. Ascribe to the LORD, families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth. The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The LORD is King!” Let the sea and everything in it resound; let the fields and all that is in them exult. Then the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. And say: “Save us, God of our salvation; gather us and rescue us from the nations so that we may give thanks to Your holy name and rejoice in Your praise. May the LORD, the God of Israel, be praised from everlasting to everlasting.” Then all the people said, “Amen” and “Praise the LORD.”’