June | 2018 | ''The journey of orphan to adoption"

The western sky gives up it’s last shades of summer evening light as twilight steals across the land covering the earth with darkness. A sliver of a moon appears for a short time, then disappears as storm clouds began to form in the northern sky.

Thunder begins to rumble and lightening streaks illuminate the night sky. In place of the gentle breeze that was barely rustling the leaves, there is now a strong wind blowing dust and trash across the land.

Within minutes, the thunder intensifies, the lightening streaks become more frequent and the wind continues to rise and within seconds the Storm is upon us in all its fury, raindrops pelting against the windows, and the wind causing the house to shake ever so slightly.

As I stand by the window and watch the above scene unfold, I know that if I were to dare venture outside, I would be soaked within moments of being in the elements of this storm. Suddenly, something catches my eye in the branches of the tree right next to the window. Somehow amidst the branches that are being blown to and fro violently, in the storms fury, I catch a glimpse of a bird’s nest with something in it.

Within moments the rain and wind slowed ever so slightly and I was able to see a mama bird peacefully sitting on her nest, faithfully keeping her young ones safe, no fear of the Storm.

So my friends, what could this mean for us individually? My mind is drawn to Psalm 91 and how the writer of that particular psalm may have possibly been facing tremendous storms that could have taken his life, yet he knew that in abiding in the presence of Jesus, there is safety, no matter the winds and rain.

“He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler” -Psalms 91:4

So as that mama bird upon her nest, peacefully waiting out the Storm, her nest obviously was well made and fastened properly to that branch. What is our foundation? Is it in the Father, knowing that no matter what the Storm, you are safe in His presence?

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You”
-Isaiah 26:3

In Kenya, April is one of the months of the rainy season there, not to mention it rained almost daily while we were there. The mud was a constant challenge, but it added plenty of adventure to our African experience.

That Wednesday morning, we awoke to the sound of rain, so we waited until mid forenoon to head out, and still it was raining, so we had our first supermarket experience and each member of the team got a pair of boots, because there was mud everywhere.

Eventually we were on the road, heading back to the Masai village where we were to have a church service. It truly was a trip, we will never forget. Nine people packed into a vehicle (in Kenya there’s always room for one more), and once we hit the dirt roads the adventure began as we slid all over the muddy road, with 3 to 4 foot gullies on either side of the road.

We got stuck a number of times, I eventually lost track of how many times we got out and walked, the sticky mud slowing our walking progress. We were determined to not give up and about 4 hours after we first began the journey we reached our destination; tired, sweaty and covered in mud. We were served coffee and refreshments, then later a meal, by our dear African sister Ann, who served us so well. ❤

Our destination was a church in this particular Masai village and driving up to it, I didn’t see exactly what I expected but in that building was a service unlike I have ever experienced in my life. The building itself could not have been more then 14-16 feet wide and maybe 32 feet long, but it held over 250 adults plus all the darling children.

In this building is where I got my first experience of African worship, it was so amazing, God did incredible things there❤ Some of the girls on the team got to dress up as the Masai ladies do, plus we all got Masai jewelry, which is absolutely beautiful.

We had the opportunity to pass ou candy and some small gifts to the children, seeing their faces as each one was presented with something was incredible to see.

We then headed back to our hotel for the evening, this time we didn’t get stuck, although there was still so much mud everywhere. I am convinced the enemy was desperately trying to deter us from going. Praise God🙌 he was defeated and God did incredible things in each of our hearts and lives.

That evening as the team debriefed over the delightful evening meal they prepared for us, we all agreed our faith was strengthened, because of the experiences we had through the mud and mire on the road that day.

Below is a video that one of our incredibly talented team members did, and if you want a great visual of what all took place, please watch it 😊

https://youtu.be/d6ZgOCyIMzY