Barnabas Showed Up

It's been a few days since we've had internet, so we haven't posted anything, but the internet is up and running again and we're still alive and still here in Congo.

The woman we arrived here with, Cristy Ford, just got the excellent news that her exit letter is issued and that she will get to leave either tomorrow or Friday. We are super happy for her, as she has been over here flying solo with a 6 month old and a 4 year old. This also means that our exit letter should not be far behind--possibly even tomorrow.

On Monday a dad named Nic Heywood came over here to pick up his little guy and I've learned a lesson in encouragement from Nic. Nic's presence has been like Red Bull for my soul. I was dragging, easily angered (if not outwardly, certainly inwardly), and becoming increasingly cynical. Nic showed up Monday morning at breakfast and was joyful and uplifting. I told Abby the other night, "I want to be like Nic." I want to have encouraged people and spoken timely words of truth. I want to view my words as tools that God can use to truly bless people. The Scripture speaks much about how to use our words, and I have witnessed in Nic, one who redeems conversations in order to build up others. As a kid, I remember that my Sunday School teacher made us memorize Eph. 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only that which is helpful for building others up according to their needs, so that it may benefit those who listen" (Our teacher allowed us to punch others in the arm who were speaking negatively if we had the verse memorized!) Anyhow, Nic has modeled for me what it is to "build others up according to their needs" and to "benefit those who listen." I thank God for him. Waiting here has not been easy, but he has been a grace into my life.

Abby and I have prayed repeatedly for the Lord to let us go home. Not only so, but many of our friends and family have prayed the same. So, we've been wondering, "Lord, are you listening? Why are we still here?" He can easily put a stamp on an exit letter, so why hasn't He?

I'm not sure, exactly, why we're still here, but it has occurred to me in recent days that God's highest priority isn't to make me comfortable. In fact, I'm finally (after two weeks) seeing what is clear in Scripture in many places. Spiritual growth happens in trial. God forms our souls on the anvil of trial. He throws people out in the desert and works them over. I feel dumb even calling this a trial--there are many in the church family at home who are in much more severe trial than me right now and certainly, many in the town where I sit who daily endure trials more severe than I will ever know. Yet, for me and Abby, it has been trying. And God's o.k. with that. He's more than o.k with that, because it's precisely in the waiting and the testing that he beats the selfishness, impatience, and a million other dirty things out of us.

So, please pray that we come home soon, but don't only pray that. Pray that Abby and I will not miss the lessons that God has ordained for us to learn in this time of waiting.

Andy

" . . . We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been give to us." Romans 5