Stretching

Goodness... so much is happening it is hard to make time to post. I hope I do better than this when we are in Uganda! But first of all I promise most of the posts will not be this long... it is just that these are 10 days apart.

Well, I'll get right down to business. The things I will share are not always easy to share as I have alluded to in an earlier post. Somehow they seem important to share though because that helps you and I both to understand the journey and hopefully to see God's hand in the process. I am fully aware that not everyone will see it this way. Some will just see the hurdle but we are trusting that each one can eventually see beyond the hurdle to the blessing and grace.

So another major "thing" referred to in the last posting is that on July 30 my youngest sister, at age 52, suffered a stroke which left her with limited use of her right leg, no use of her right arm and considerable language impairment. Cindy lives in the USA. The rest of my family lives on PEI and we were all in shock when we received this news and wanted so much to be with her and her family. The first blessing was that Cindy has a very supportive husband and children and that she received help right away. Another blessing was that my other sister and I were able to book Aeroplan flights to go to be with them for 3 days. I have tried to use Aeroplan miles to book flights before... I know you need to book them well in advance but this time we were able to get direct flights to and from just 2 days before we left! Other blessings included Cindy being able to receive her care and therapy at the best rehabilitation facility in the States. What does this have to do with our journey to Uganda? For one thing this last month before departure is the time for gathering together the things we need to leave and for preparing ourselves for this trip. It is difficult to do that when challenges like this come along. God has been gracious and reminded us that He is carrying us through this time of stress and concern and again that His timing is perfect but that we do have to trust Him.

The timing of things that happen in our lives may not make sense to us. The next week after I returned from the USA my Dad became, and still is, very ill. He is elderly and has had a couple of brushes with death in the past few years. Doctors have indicated that he may not make it through this bout of Congestive Heart Failure. Earlier this week it seemed I was overwhelmed with concern. There were so many things to think about not the least of which is "how do I leave for Uganda for a month when my Dad is so sick"? My leaving puts extra stress on the rest of my siblings. There are so many wrinkles and ripples that relate to this that I won't mention but suffice to say that the stress level has been substantial. My time has been consumed with caring for our parents and our departure date is coming ever closer. We know friends and family have been praying and although we were endeavoring to leave things in the Lord's hands, yesterday my faith floundered. I saw the waves and not the One who rescues. As Chad and I talked about it last night we realized this was something we perhaps needed to be reminded of before we leave. Keep your eyes on Him, not the circumstances or the situation going on around. Again I needed to remember His timing is perfect. I think that might have to be a watchword for this journey. I know He will bring His peace to our hearts so that our family members will be taken care of as only He can. He takes care of every detail.

Tonight as we sat in on the meeting of the 2010 Long Creek to Watoto team it was exciting to re-live some of the memories shared by members of the last team that went to Uganda in 2008. Also to hear the enthusiasm of the future potential team members and their thoughts about fundraising to build another house for orphaned children. This is an encouragement to us and I hope that our journey will also serve to be an encouragement to them as they prepare to travel next May. Check out the link to their blog at the bottom of this page.

And my goodness, we have saved the best for last in this post! This week we received some MAJOR contributions to our travel expenses. Everything isn't in the bank quite yet but we are now very, very close to reaching our objective. Such generosity is overwhelming! Oh God, you are SO good!

In closing this post I will mention that my Dad loves the 139th Psalm and has requested it be read to him a number of times this past week. It ends with verses that say 'search me and know me...' God has been doing that with us in the past weeks. He is in the purifying process (now sometime I would like to chat about that and how it relates to the job our son does at the nickel mine where he works in Manitoba but I digress!). Though it may not be pleasant in the midst we do desire the end result.

Blessings as you walk through the challenges in your life this week. May you let Him take your hand.