A close friend of mine, always signs off her emails, notes and cards by saying "CHOOSE JOY." My friend is someone who definitely chooses joy. Her fun loving, compassionate personality is contagious to those around her. She serves God in so many ways, to so many people she is the reflection of Christ. I know, because many times I have experienced the peace, love and joy of God through her and our conversations.
Lately my mind and heart seems like lion pacing around in it's cage. I am so close to reaching my $25,000 budget, but I am not there yet. I just want to know the date I will be leaving for Africa, but that won't happen until I am fully funded. I want to have a plane ticket purchased and I want to be able to start crossing things off my to-do list, but since so many of them are hinged on when I leave, I cannot. I am finding it hard to enjoy the Christmas, because I am so restless. I have not been choosing JOY.
Faith is an amazing journey. It truly is, as Hebrews 11 says, "Confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Taking a step of faith in any situation of life requires faith. Are you really going to let go of everything that is "normal" for you and run toward what God wants? Are you willing to let go of the things you can see, only to embrace the things that you can't?
Life in Lesotho is a lot like faith. The people of Lesotho do not know what will happen tomorrow. Will they have work? Will they be alive? Life at Beautiful Gate is faith. When you wake up and start work, you do not know how many children will be dropped off that day. Children that have been abandoned, lost or neglected. Children that have had a horrible start in life. You may have a to-do list of items to be accomplished that day, but mostly likely, you will not be able to accomplish any of it, because in Lesotho it is hard to plan ahead. The thing is, is that those in Lesotho have JOY. The children of Beautiful Gate children are simply children and when you walk out of a building you will hear laughter and JOY!
James 1:2-3 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith requires perseverance." How does one consider a trial JOY? There are a lot of people in this world that are suffering. People that do not deserve the life situations they are facing, but they have no choice. The fact is no matter what we face each day...cancer, starvation, negative work issues, family struggles, etc., we do have a choice to make. We can choose to feel beat up and live a life of selfish desires or we can learn from the children of Beautiful Gate and choose JOY!!
I am surrendering the fact that I do not have a leaving date. I believe God will provide for the funds that are still need to be raised and I will have a leave date. I no longer want to be the caged lion pacing around worrying about life and the things in it that I cannot control. I want to be like the children at Beautiful Gate. I want to run and experience the NOW of life instead of trying to plan for the maybe of tomorrow. I want to soak in the time I have here and the people I share those moments with.
Above all, no matter what comes my way in the next few weeks, I am going to CHOOSE JOY!
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