A Gift

I sat in my living room last night looking at pictures from my Uganda trip earlier this year. As I looked through them and remembered those moments, my heart longed to be there again. I felt a physical ache to be close to these women. Sitting in their homes, learning from them.  Laughing with them, and sharing with them.

Tears streaming down my face, I told my husband how I longed to be with these women. Am I crazy??!!  I know that I am supposed to be here in the US... I am not called to move to Uganda.  I am called to the work here in the United States.

I have felt this deep love for these ladies for a long time. But the emotions of this connection still catch me off guard at times. As I talked with Jason about it last night, it hit me that God has actually given me a wonderful gift in this bond with His children on the other side of the world.

Through most of my life, I have been consumed with myself... focused on plans for my day, my future, my ideas of what I wanted to happen for myself, for my family. And God has now given me the gift of living and loving outside of myself. He has given me a taste of His love for these ladies.

I honestly have times when I wish I could flip a switch and turn off this longing for Uganda... Because it hurts. It hurts to want so badly to be two places at once. But, now I realize that God doesn't want me to turn it off. It is His gift to me. A gift to remind me that my life is not my own.  A gift that reminds me of His love for not only the people that I see every day.  A gift that reminds me how vast His creation is and how deep His love is for His people.

Today I thank Him for this beautiful gift, and I pray that God never flips the switch!  I want to keep this feeling... even if it does hurt sometimes. And I look forward with *great* anticipation to the day He allows me to visit my friends again.  :-)

Learn more about the ladies here: Aggie's Arts