God is so good. Do you ever have those days when you cognitively realize and give thanks for just HOW good He is....I know, myself included, that most of the time it's easier to not even think about it. For me, He shows up in BIG ways in the small details. The things that NO other human could orchestrate. The perfect timings. The little things that just make you smile and know that YOUR creator is thinking of you and loves you. We all need those reminders from time to time. These moments are the times when I remember and give thanks for His provisions and how He truly cares for us.
2 weeks ago, one of our dear children, Dino, went home to be with his Heavenly Father for all of eternity. And while we are all very happy for him, it kinda rocked our world down here and we all miss him terribly! Sometimes the grief is easier to deal with than others, sometimes impossible. But God, in His infinite wisdom, mercy, and compassion already knew the exact time He was going to call Dino home to Him. He also knew exactly where I'd be and what the news would mean/do to me. He had it all worked out.
2 months earlier He prompted a friend of mine to bake some yummy homemade Christmas desserts for me, wrap them up, put them in a package and send them to me. Now, the logic of this, isn't all that good.....packages take 6-8 weeks to get to me. It's summer here and all over Africa. Air-conditioning rarely exists and it is HOT! It doesn't even take 30 minutes for chocolate to melt outside of my fridge. I'm not kidding. Also, the mail people aren't exactly NICE to my packages. Usually food items are broken and crushed by the time they reach me. Plus, who likes to eat homemade goodies after 8 wks of sitting in a box.....well I do! I miss Christmas candy and cookies and all the yummy things that come with the season. Just 2 days after Dino's funeral, another missionary arrived back on the center with the package for me (I didn't even know it was coming). NOT A SINGLE bit of it was melted, crushed, or broken and EVERYTHING had chocolate on it! Now that was God. AND it's not stale or gross or moldy....I'm STILL eating it. ;)
Also 3 Christmas cards and another package arrived for me at the same time. The other package had yummy flavored coffee in it (which is my favorite and I haven't had in about 2 years!) Mail is a BIG thing here....especially since 80% of mine never makes it here!
6 weeks ago, God prompted me to email a contact I had met for 2 minutes and ask to come visit their project in Chimoio for 5 days. Within 2 weeks all the arrangements were made and tickets bought. So just 3 days after his funeral, less than a week after his death, I boarded a plane, with a heavy heart, and made my way to Chimoio to stay with people I had NEVER met for almost a week. They knew nothing of what had gone on with Dino. They decided instead of putting me in the girl's dorm, they would put me in a house all to myself. WITH AIR-CONDITIONING! There were no kids running around, no noise, just silence, and peace, and beautiful surroundings, new friends, encouragement, and time with God. It was such a blessing. I instantaneously attached to all the missionary girls working up there and they with me. I helped them in the baby nutrition clinic for 3 days, we ran errands for 1 day, and then helped them with a sick Mozambican staff member that needed 24 hr nursing care. I went there spent, emotional, exhausted, fed up, and depleted. I came home refreshed, rejuvenated, encouraged, and blessed even though I worked almost the entire time I was there. Now only THAT is God.
Wanna know what else?.....in His perfect timing, He knew that a Mozambican girl named Rebecca would become very seriously ill with cerebral malaria. She spent 10 days in an intensive care unit in a private, more western clinic, continuously vomiting, losing IV access constantly, and seizing uncontrollably even with medications. She would become so weak, she couldn't even be able to sit without major support. The missionaries at Chimoio work with her and are very close to her. They were tired and worn out and taking home someone that was seizing frequently, who couldn't even sit up or walk to the bathroom alone, requiring 24 hr nursing care. ADDED to their other responsibilities. I arrived just 2 days before she was released and was able to help them and give them some relief.
2 weeks ago, the Lord prompted another missionary here to invite myself and another one of the nurses involved in the care of Dino, to her uncle's house (the US ambassador) to spend Saturday and Sunday there. Of course, I said yes. This meant 24 more hours of rest, food provided for me, and air-conditioning (no little thing here). It extended my time off the base to a full week. It had been 6 wks since my last break, and I honestly just needed the time, relaxation, and rest even BEFORE Dino's death, but especially after. It was such a blessing and provision to go stay with her family who are an amazing Christian family with such warmth and wisdom.
Each time, I was really hit by HOW GOOD He is! How He provides for us and loves us even before we know we need it! The song below has been in my heart the last few weeks....some lines are harder to sing than others, but it is ALL true and who I need God to be. especially the verses about hoping, dreaming, watching & waiting, and then laughing, weeping, hurting, & healing. It's just where I am right now. Good thing He is IN everything and MY everything!
God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping
God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
God in my hoping
There in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting
God in my laughing
There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
You are everything
Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
Be my everything
-Tim Hughes
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