When the going gets tough, Jesus’ grace gets going

Wow! I cannot believe it! We are down to the last wire of our trip. Two weeks left in Lira, ½ a week in Jinja, then 3 days of traveling and Georgia and I will be home. The last four months have literally flown by. It is such a bittersweet feeling for me. Lira has truly become home for me, but I am also super excited to see all my family and friends whom I miss so, so much.
 
Anyways, as you saw the title of this blog is when the going gets tough, God’s grace gets going. I want to explain, I know God’s grace is always working and never ending. What I am specifically talking about via that title is how God’s grace becomes so evident in our lives when we go through hard seasons. This is something I have seen a lot this past week. Since last Wednesday to this Wednesday I have had one of the hardest weeks of being in Lira, as well as, one of the best weeks in Lira. How is that possible? Well, I’m going to tell you…
 
            Last Wednesday it finally hit me, I will be home in exactly one month. Only one month! This is exciting but also a very scary thought. I am excited to see my family and friends, excited for the direction God has given me for my life on this trip, excited that I will have AC and a car to drive again… But at the same time I am scared. I know I am going to miss Lira, the people, the food, and constantly having time to do ministry and not have to work or be a grown up. This makes me frightened because it really is an unknown to me. I don’t know where I will work, if I will go to school, what my church or friends will be like since I haven’t seen them in four months. I am different, everything there will be different…will I still like the same things? Will people I was close to still have the same interests as me? All of these questions, and more have raced through my mind, but despite my questions and worries, this week in Lira has been one of my favorite weeks here.
 
Since the beginning of the trip I have had a few desires that I wanted to see happen while here. Some simple but fun, others for a purpose. The first is, I have wanted since day one for it to down pour rain for longer than a few moments and my team be able to play in the rain. Welp! That happened for the first time this week, and… we had a mud fight to top it off! Secondly, I have wanted to play soccer with kids, so that I can play, but also to build a relationship and respect with them, and…Monday it happened! Four months in Africa and you would think it would have happened sooner, but I have yet to have a chance prior to Monday. But Monday at Child Restoration Outreach (CRO) I had the chance! At first the boys were hesitant to pass me the ball, but after scoring two goals, which are only a foot wide, in less than 15 minutes, I had gained their trust. And by the end of our hour playing, they were mad at me if I would walk off the field to get water. They would yell, “Muno! Muno! Bein con!” (translation: White girl! White Girl! Come here! Come play!). These shouts totally made my day!  And Tuesday while visiting CRO I had several ask me about futbol. The respect, although seemingly late in the trip has been gained, and I pray God will open the doors from here. We are going to play again on Saturday at two… I’m so exited! Also, we went to a wedding this week of two people we have become close to since the beginning of the trip. This was a super exciting time, and Jordan, a guy on my team, was even asked to be a grooms men! And we sang songs and learned a dance, which we presented at their wedding. And lastly, I ATE and ANT this week! It was crunchy and tasteless, Praise God! I wouldn’t do it again though, not unless I absolutely had too.
 
            So this week has been hard, fun, exciting, challenging, but despite all of these ups and downs, I have seen clearly just how sufficient Jesus’ grace is. Jesus knew when He planned this week out that it was going to be hard and that I would need little joys to carry me through, and He planned it perfectly. Even with the hard parts of this week, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, because when the going got tough, Jesus’ grace got going.
 
Praise the Lord! (Poka wrot!)
 
2 Corinthians 12:8-10