Because we are adequate

"Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." 

 - 2 Corinthians 3:5

Yesterday was truly amazing. A day I got to see where my adequacy is from, and those The Lord has entrusted me with. 

Florence has been such a joy to disciple. I think of all the prayer I lifted to The Lord about my desire to go to an unreached people group and to share the gospel - if even with just one. And now here I am, living my dream, in a small village in Northern Uganda. Where my home is a hut and our electricity comes from the sun and the occassional hot bucket bath is a luxury. Yet never has my heart been so full or my joy bursting at the seams. 

Oh, friend, when the Word says, "Ask and it will be given to you..." (Matt 7) all is truth. And if part of the Lord's will, it will come to pass. I know because I am living it. But even if I wasn't living it, His words are no less true. 

I walked back down the red dirt path away from Florence's, headed toward the mountain at the base of which our home sits. A permenent smile plastered on my face and a song of praise from my heart lifted to the Most High. Just mere hours before Kristi and I had discussed about one of the akimats (grandmother) of one of our precious Moses Project babies who has a hunger for The Lord. Yet, language barriers and societal hierarchies make our team weary of being known as "the leader." Our desire is to be part of a story that is reproducible, and that when The Lord leads each of us down another path, the ministry here will continue. Kristi and I discussed about the possibility if someone of their own was able to teach and share and labour - oh how the harvest is plentiful! And how Florence seemed to be prepared just for this. 

So I prayed. Not long, and not often... actualy only once. But I asked the King to spread His Word, His will. 

Florence, Camille and I meet every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and journey through the scriptures. Hands down my favorite most cherished time I get to spend here. I'll be honest - I don't know what I am doing. Not at all... but I know the Bible is truth and I know that the Spirit of God lives in me, so we've began to journey through the book of Matthew together, covering a chapter each day we meet. 

Yesterday was chapter nine. The perfect chapter, the perfect doorway in light of the conversation I had with Kristi earlier. As Florence, Camille and I ended with the parable of the harvest, my heart silently prayed for wisdom and words, and my mouth encouraged Florence to start sharing and teaching what she has learned about God. From the very beginning we have tried to emphasize that the knowledge The Lord imparts to us is to be shared. Yet my western view and fears did not want her to feel pressured by myself or Camille but rather a Spirit desire and leading. 

Want to know her response? 

"I wish we could see that woman so we could know if she is supposed to come to my house or us go to hers..." 

Ha! 

Boom. Andswered prayers. 

I feel humbled and privileged. I've only living in Uganda for five months and was blessed by The Lord dropping Florence in my lap. Some missionaries spend years just trying to break through cultural barriers. 

But let me be clear - none of this is of me. I'll say it again, none of this is of me. As I praised my King yesterday and this morning for the work of His hands, I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 3:1-18. An adequacy not of my own and not of Florence or Camille, but of the Most Holy God himself. A loving King and Savior whose desire is for His children to know His great love. 

How full my heart is, but oh how frustrated I get with the works of the enemy. Whose biggest lie is that followers of Jesus are inadequate unless you went to seminary, or know English, or are a white American or you-fill-in-the-blank. 

Friends, 2 Corinthians 3 is clear: our letters are on the hearts of men - not stone tablets. In other words, your adequacy is not in the degree you get or how many commentaries you read or the Greek and Hebrew you know... it's in the lives you pour into, those The Lord has entrusted you with to disciple and the fruit that is produced. 

I see so many in my generation that desire to follow Jesus - the desire is there, yet at the same time live in fear. They want to know God but to know Him, He calls us to be like Him... and Jesus made dsiciples. 

So Let's make disciples. Don't overcomplicate it - just take God at His word and do it. 

In the words of Chan: if you want to know Jesus, you don't go up on a mountain and seclude youself to find him... you make disciples and see Him work! 

And 2000 years later we will still procleaim Colossians 1:5 "which has come to you [the gospel - see verse 4] just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing..." 

I know this is just another step in this journey of my life here in Uganda. And the lives we get to be in community with here in Kaceri. And as we follow Jesus, some of us are tilling the soil, some planting seeds, and some, like myself, reaping the harvest of prayers and labour far beyond myself. 

I just want to encourage you today, my dear friend, that if you are a follower of Jesus and know His grace and love your adequacy comes from Him, don't hold the deepest love to yourself. And, if somehow you stumbled across these rantings of a young woman trying to figure out this life of following Jesus - and you don't know the deep love of our King; or the joy in sharing in that love... I encourage you to join Florence, Camille and I and journey through the book of Matthew. It'll change your life.