Not poor, but rich

On April 23 this year, my best friend sent me the link to a blog: www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com It took me a few days to begin reading, but when I did, I couldn't stop. Katie Davis felt called as a high schooler to go spend a year teaching orphans in Uganda when she graduated. Like most parents would be, hers were not crazy about this idea. So her senior year, her mom joined her on a 3 week trip to a baby home in Jinja, Uganda. She fell in love with the country and the people, "its enormous beauty juxtaposing extreme poverty". Her heart was stirred by these people that "the world calls poor, but who seemed to rich in love to me (Katie)".

So after her senior year in high school, Katie left for Uganda to spend a year teaching at Canaan's Children Home. It was both a struggle, as she didn't speak the language, and immensely filling. These children were full the the presence of Jesus. She came to realize she had one purpose in Uganda: to love. Luke 12:48 says, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Katie realized she'd been given much.

Everywhere around Katie seemed to be a paradox and this began stirring my heart as I read her story. Here's what she says, "Materially speaking, the people who began to fill my life were the poorest I has ever met and yet they overflowed with the riches of the heart. They lived in houses of sticks or stones and mud; they slept on hard dirt floors. But they did not blame God for this or ask Him for more. They knew their circumstances were due to the brokenness of this world and they simply praised Jesus for keeping them alive through it all. They believed in His goodness. They lived with love and passion, caring for one another and for me and deeply appreciating the simplest gifts life had to offer: the happy giggles of children, the smile and warm greeting of a  friend, the beauty that surrounded them, and chance to work when possible, a helping hand when, these people had every reason to be despondent and downcast, but they were the most joyful human beings I could imagine."

I think of how we are in America. When things go wrong, so often we are asking, "where are you God?" instead of realizing he is the ONE thing that is holding us steady. Jesus ENTERS IN to the hard places and is there WITH US.

I leave you with one more excerpt from Katie, back in her first year in Uganda (2007). She's with the children, praising and worshipping, in a storm that has cut off the power. "At first glance, it would be easy to feel sorry for these little boys. Their clothes are tattered... they walk to school barefoot in the rain. They have no electricity, no running water... But I should not pity these children. In fact, I should envy them. At 6 years old, these children know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. These children know the greatness, the wonder of our God... these children are not poor. I am. I put value in things. These children, having no things, put value in God. I put my trust in relationship; these children, having already seen relationships fail, put their trust in the Lord."

I want to have that trust in the Lord. Unwavering, over all... in awe!

*note-- quotes are taken from Davis, Katie. Kisses from Katie. New York: Howard Books, 2011.