Let me tell you something. I really like living in Ikageng. I love seeing the beautiful ladies of our staff mature in their faith. I really enjoy spending my days with the bright-eyed little people that school here. Their zest for life and learning energizes me. The love I'm able to give them flows easily and is well-spent, because they absorb it like sponges, and reciprocate joyfully.
But there's a problem. Because Satan doesn't like the work that we are about in this place. He's the prince of this world, and, fact is, God is on the move, so he's losing ground. As you might have heard, God is paving the way to expand the school: more classes, more kids, more staff, Christian curriculum. Partnerships are forming and community development is being fueled in the name of Jesus. When the families we are able to minister to decide that they're trading their worldly ways for habits that honor God, Satan is not a happy camper. When children are being nurtured in the love of God, instead of being haphazardly brought up in the sin-stained township, that means defeat for the devil. I'm sure Satan is so mad he could spit. But he doesn't see all this and give in easily. Instead, he carves pits into our lives and makes us feel like we are at the bottom of them: doubt, gloom, loneliness.
You have to be careful, because he's very sly. He can twist the blessing of house guests into the curse of lonesomeness when they're gone. He will capitalize on valleys like the never-ending cold to make you feel especially down in the dumps. He might even synchronize the timing of the former with the miserable climax of the latter, because his ways are sinister and despicable. He's highly practiced at tucking good things away in the shadows, and beaming a spotlight on the bad things, so that the world seems out of balance. He's hoping we might recognize our weakness, slump into hopelessness and turn from God--stop the work He has called us to be a part of.
You whom I took form the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right and. <<Isaiah 41:9-10>>
These are just a few of the ways that Satan has slipped discouragement into my life, but I am also acutely aware of how his deceit is manifesting itself in the lives of others around me. Pray for us: for the staff, the students, and their families—that God will form a protective hedge around us—that we would see the pits of the devil for the God-forsaken traps that they are, and cling to the promises that we know reign supreme. Pray with us, that as God continues to forge the way before us, that Satan would be bound from interfering—as God brings His people together with unity of purpose, that Satan would be dismayed in his attempts to drive wedges.
Satan is a big fat liar, and in the face of his fiery arrows, we aren't hopeless. Au contraire. We can stand confidently behind the shield of promises that God has given His people throughout the ages--promises sealed by His victory over Satan on the cross, in the empty tomb. For every nasty, deceitful trick satan pulls out of his hat, God has a Book full of all-surpassing affirmations for His children. And we can stand on them knowing that in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. <<Romans 8:37>>
Unfortunately, the battles wage on. Satan hates to see God's kingdom materializing on his turf, so he puts up a fight. And as soldiers in the Lord's army, we get a little battered and bruised. But we can fight on courageously, in the strength of the Lord and the hope of his promises. Because in the end, our team wins.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! <<Psalm 34:7-8>>
Most days I don't have a problem living half a world away from my family and friends. Of course it would be nice for all the people I love to live near me, but they don't. It's just a matter of fact in this chapter of the life God is writing for me. But on the days that I'm sick or sad or lonely, the other side of the world might as well be Pluto, cause it's impossible for my mom to take care of me…to get a hug from my dad…to make my nephew laugh til he can't breathe…to eat tacos with my best friends. When such discouragement clouds around me, it’s because Satan is busy digging miry pits, anticipating that I'll fall in and sulk there. But instead, sweet Jesus lifts me out and places my feet on the rock of His promises.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits…who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. <<Psalm 103:4-5>>
It's still easy to feel like I'm on a far flung island sometimes, like when I know my whole family is celebrating Father's Day against the backdrop of Colorado summer, for instance, or maybe they’re watching my nephew smear birthday cake all over his precious face because he's two. But God is showing me that it's silly to feel that way, because He has clearly made the way straight for me to be here right now. And thank goodness for His omnipresence, because I know He is right here with me--every moment, every day. I pray that my relationship with Him becomes more and more tangible, because He is the only constant in my life. The only One and the best One. He is my lifter-upper, my promise-keeper, my best friend, my sufficiency.
