After the women’s retreat, I made my way to RVA (the Rift Valley Academy) and I started to get settled in. It took a while for me to get plugged in because I wasn’t assigned to a specific position. But I found ways to help out with the Titchie (elementary) classrooms and office, the administrative offices, babysitting for young moms, and any other needs that arose.
Now, I have been living at RVA for over a month and a half. I have been able to be productive and serve—in small ways and larger ways. I have felt completely at peace about being here and I have learned much from the people around me. I have come to feel at home and comfortable here.
God has blessed me by letting me live with the Hildebrands (my former youth pastor, his wife, their four boys) and their seven 5-6th grade dorm boys. I have been so blessed to get to spend time with this family, learn what it’s like for them to live in Kenya and hear their heart and their love for their boys and their ministry.
Uprooting a family and moving to a new continent is an intense and difficult endeavor—it is a huge sacrifice! There are sacrifices that each of us must endure in order to follow God’s call on our lives. After all, Jesus gave up his heavenly throne in order to humble himself, become a man, and endure everything a human endures. Plus, He bore the sins of the world and died an excruciating death. Now THAT is sacrifice. And are we not called to “take up [our] cross and follow Him”(Lk. 9:23)?
Jesus’ sacrifice, although it was painful, brutal, and ugly, brought about the most beautiful redemption and salvation for mankind! In the same way, the sacrifices we make for God are trade-ins for more beautiful outcomes. In coming to Africa, I sacrificed time at school, time with friends and family, money, and more. Other people, like the Hildebrands, sacrificed much more than that—they committed their lives to live here and be far away from family and everything familiar and comfortable. It’s like discovering how to live again!
Although their sacrifice was great, this family has seen the purposes for which God called them here. God has rewarded them by allowing them to serve and work in a larger community of believers and see God's hand in many circumstances. They have relied on God through many difficult situations, and God has shown himself faithful and has shown them that His plan is greater than anything they might think is good. It's all about TUST. Can we trust that, even when we are going through hard times, God is in control and He has our best interest in mind?
I have learned to call this concept a “Beautiful Ugly,” (a phrase coined by a lady here at RVA) and it applies to many things that we face in this life. Although a situation may seem so terrible, a sacrifice may seem too great, a task may seem too large, and life may just be plain ugly sometimes, God is working beauty into the ashes, the ugliness, and the confusion. There are great rewards for doing what God calls you to do and for relying on God through the difficult things in life.
So, no matter what you face in your life—from the small inconveniences of daily life, to the life-altering changes that God calls you to make, to the tragedies that rock your foundation—God is working a greater plan for your life. He knows the purposes that He has and they will result in beauty and grace and growth! TRUST HIM!
Steven Curtis Chapman knows what it means to live this out in a very real way because of the tragic death of his daughter. Here is a song he wrote that exemplifies what I’m talking about.
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