I have been keeping up with her on instagram and facebook, and this week she messaged me from Malawi. I told her I was jealous of her adventures some days! I first met her when she was a middle school student at Pinelake and have seen her grow and mature into this beautiful young woman who is taking boldness and bravery to the ends of the earth.
When I look back over the years I have known her, I don't see that I had much influence over her life, or that I really did much to invest in her, but after all these years and the little time that I did spend with her, I am seeing the fruits of that now - by her messaging me from Africa, to encourage me! What a beautiful thing that is. A little seed sown produces much fruit.
The very first mission trip I went on, in 2007, changed my entire life. I wouldn't be sitting here today, stressed out about getting this house finished, if people had not sown into my life nearly 10 years ago. Even if it was 1 person that supported me on that 1 trip, it was 1 gift that sowed into my life.
This morning I was making my carpool rounds, gathering up teenage boys, dropping them off for school - sowing in to their lives, even if it is just for 5 minutes. I love to watch them walk down the street. I love to see them coming in a group with their hood covering their heads and their backpacks on. I love getting to tell them, "have a good day, I love you." And I love that one day very soon they can all walk to my house in the mornings before school, and come to my house after school to get a snack, help with homework, sit on the porch, use the bathroom - whatever they need.
Rebuilding a house has been a million times harder to me than sowing in to the hearts of these kids. And trust me, it is hard with them! But for all of the people that have helped me on this house, even if it was just 1 time, 1 day, 1 donation......you are sowing in to something so much bigger than that. You are sowing in to the lives of these amazing young men that teach me so much, love me back, make me laugh, make me cry, give me joy and suffering at the same time, and are the next generation of our capital city, that are going to be the ones that make things different.
This is what the Lord said to me yesterday:
"I could have put you in any other hood in Jackson, or around the world, but I put you in theirs.....because I LOVE THEM THAT MUCH."
Today I met the guys that were coming to repair, sand, and stain my floors. Another step of completion so I can get in this house. An hour after they got there ...... part of the sub floor was rotten and needs to be replaced before they can do anything.
Can you hear my sigh in Malawi, Megan?
Some days it is just to much. To much to do. To much that goes wrong. To much that I don't even know what to do next. To much that I have no control of.
I just take a deep breath, ask Jesus to help me, and think about the 5 minute conversation I had in the car with Kendarius on the way to school, that was about brushing our teeth and finding a quarter under the seat.
"But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life." Galatians 6:8
