African air

I never got a chance to really talk about how Africa has affected my life and who I want to be.

Oh Africa.  How I do miss the air out there.  When I say air, I don't mean the kind you breathe, because as far as oxygen goes I don't think it was the greatest out there... especially with all the trash burning.  But the air I'm referring to was the feeling it produced.

While in Africa I got glimpses of a life I could have.  A person I could be.  I've never felt better than when I was over there.  There were moments when I really wished I was married because I didn't like being looked at like I was a piece of meat at a market, but heck, that never really happens here in America, so I guess it didn't feel awful **wink**.

No, Africa brought out a part of me that I really wasn't sure how to bring out in myself.  And that is the part that is not afraid to believe in God or practice my faith.  I almost feel ashamed to write that, but the truth is when I am here I am afraid to show that side.  I go to church and believe that God loves me, but I've never really demonstrated my faith.  I know a lot. I say a lot.  But I don't do a lot. If you're reading this and know me and think I'm being too hard on myself let me give you an example of why this was different in Africa.

There was a moment where I sat in a chair, a man to my left who was helping translate English to the children crowding in front of me to be interviewed.  The children were all standing in front of me on a stage made of concrete.  The walls that surrounded us were made of metal and wires.  This was one of the many slums of Nairobi, Kenya we had visited.  The children in front of me were no different than the children of America when it comes to dreams of growing up.  They wanted to be doctors, nurses, pilot's, professional soccer players, and more! These children captured my heart.  There was one child that came to me and when I finished interviewing her she seemed a little more quiet than any of the others.  In fact she had pretty much whispered all her answers to my questions.  I just wanted to know this little girl more.. so I asked her if there was anything she wanted me to know about her.  She answered that her mother was sick with a chest cold. She wanted me to pray for her.  I took this moment to practice the one thing I've always felt bound in... I brought her in front of me and told her the story of the man in the bible who asked Jesus to heal without even being there...

The Faith of a Roman Officer
When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.”
So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. Luke 7:1-10nlt

And then I told her about Jesus giving us the power to do all He had done and more...

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.“If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14

These are the scriptures to back up what I told her.  These scriptures were things that I just remembered in that moment and gave me faith to tell to her.  I asked her if we could pray for her mother in that moment, she said yes.  After telling her these truths from the bible I asked her if she believed, she said yes.  So I had all the children and some of my team come over and we all prayed for her mother.  It was strange, at the moment we were praying I could feel this little girls faith.  I almost feel like I understand what Jesus meant when He asked who had touched Him in the crowd of people...

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Mark 5:24-34

I felt this girls faith.  And at that moment I believed God's ability to heal this little girls mother.  Faith like that is hard to come by here.  I am surrounded by reminders of why not.  Why believe God for these things if there are hospitals and doctors and pills and so many remedies to help?  Don't get me wrong, I believe that these things can be very good and helpful.  But what about healing in an instant?  What about a faith where you believed and at that moment you believed it became true.  Sort of like a light switching on.  The light comes on and the darkness is gone.

And it's not just healing that held me back with belief.  I had nothing telling me how to be happy.  No advertisements telling me that if I didn't have this stupendous car or house or electronic device I couldn't possibly be happy.  None of that was there.  And yet they had the best fruit I've ever tasted.  And the best chicken I'd ever tasted! Dancing and singing came naturally to me there.  I found myself singing everywhere I went.  No I didn't have a fancy car driving me around, but I did have the company of friends who cared about me, friends who laughed with me, cried with me, and enjoyed the things we all saw together with me.

We were in Africa.  A place with the name of poverty written all over it.  A third world country full of despair and sadness?  But that's not what God showed me.

In fact, God showed me it was all a lie.  That continent has God's heart.  He loves Africa.  And it's not hard to see why.  Everywhere we went there were signs of a land who depended on Him.  The love for God was strong, and captivating.  The people seemed tired, but I think they might be starting to believe the lie too.  The truth is that the place I visited was beautiful.  The people were beautiful.  And I could finally breathe there.  (despite the air)

And now being home I'm remembering everything and I dream of returning to Africa so I can breathe again.  And it will definitely happen again soon.