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| The Joy of the Lord |
Last month a preacher in church
asked the congregation to acknowledge by show of hand if they had had an
extremely great year so far, then those who had had a so-so year and finally a
terrible year. Forgetting about appearing all prim and proper my hand shot up when
the latter was called out. He prayed that God may change the tide for us, and
to that I said the loudest Amen in that hall. Well, most of you know the story.
My terrible year had to do with illness. Before this year my worst body discomfort
has probably been due to cramps and tonsillitis…. now I can call it discomfort
because after what I have been through I know I had never really been sick. It
all began on 5th of January when I was diagnosed with severe malaria
and for the next 3 weeks I was not in good shape. After that I had a good run
until mid-May when I went for a routine check-up test and thanks to negligence of
the hospital personnel, I have had to fight an aggressive bacterial infection
for close to five months…. shuttling from one doctor to another, antibiotics
upon antibiotics as well as unending tests. Basically, I have been unwell for
an entire half year in total.
But today I am writing to say
that God is indeed faithful. Yesterday one of my pastors shared a message on Whats-app, that God says ‘show me your faith and I will show you my faithfulness’.
I feel that the circumstances I went through, was really a test of faith and if
you read my previous post http://blissorblisters.blogspot.com/2014/09/when-heaven-is-silent.html,
I failed miserably. I thank God for His grace and mercy and that He does not always
accord us what we deserve. My rotten entitlement attitude during that period warranted
a serious ‘beating’. But because of this grace, today I write to testify of
God’s unconditional love and faithfulness. For starters I am now fully
recovered. At this point, I wish to thank all the people who stood with me in
prayers. And God has not stopped there. I can say that Hun and I are receiving
blessings in double portion. Lately it seems like every day there is one or
several ‘surprise love gifts’ from God. Seems the year will end on a very
different note, and at the end of this month I will not say that this has been
such a terrible year after all.
Our stay in Uganda expires in
exactly one week. That is right, Hun and I are relocating back to Nairobi.
Initially this also added to our stress levels! There was so much to consider
and so much to do before we could relocate. One of it was to look for a
house..… while away. While we had a very reliable family member helping us, turns
out, good houses in Nairobi are like a mirage!! One minute it is there the next
minute it is not. It has been emotionally taxing. Three times we rejoiced that
we had got a house and all the three times the owners changed their minds or
they decided to charge unreasonable rent. Thankfully, we eventually got one
that we like in the exact area we wanted. Since then everything regarding our
relocation has been falling in place…. the ducks are pretty much aligning. However,
there were other problem. Leaving our wonder-filled friends…. you all know
good-byes are never easy. Then there is Hun’s baby, FutureLink Technologies Limited
and the church ministries that we serve in. These are especially difficult to depart
from because of seeing what God is doing. Also for both the company and
ministry work, there were challenges we have gone through as respective teams and
leaving almost feels like a betrayal. But then in the midst of all God decided
to show up and show off. Future Link Technologies recently got recognized among
other Top 100 mid-sized companies in Uganda and my Green House team (Children
Ministry) got awarded for being Mavuno Kampala’s Team of the Year….. all within
the same week, and less than 2 weeks before we leave. The Ndoa (Marriage
Ministry) team where we serve together also got an award at the 2014 fearless
awards. These awards are against very many odds and as much as we know the
respective teams worked hard, we must acknowledge God’s hand in it. We take it
that He is releasing us and assuring us that He has ‘got it’, that it was never
us…. it was always Him.
So that is Him…. the Boss. He
orders our footsteps. He created us for His purpose and so has a plan for us.
My near-2-years stay in Uganda was all in His intricate plan for me. I hope one
day I will understand why He allowed the long months of indisposition. But even
if it never happens I choose to rest in His word that says in Romans 8:28 that
all things work together for good to those who love God.
So long our Ugandan family…. you
have been great to us. Thank you for each and every one of you who touched our
lives in any way. The last two years have totally changed my life in so many
ways. I socialize more, our marriage got the foundation it needed, I can never
settle to be a lukewarm Christian ever again, oh and I will take back with me the
terrible English. I will tell people to ‘extend’ instead of ‘move’ and to ‘slope
down’ instead of ‘go downhill’. I am not done yet: I will even try ‘fluke’ (read:
sneak in) some of the slang I have acquired in my day to day conversations. I cannot
promise this, but I will try use the word ‘shelling’ instead of ‘make fun of
someone’…. though I will be careful at the size of the person I am telling just
in case they misunderstand me since shelling means something totally different
in my home country, and they might end up ‘assuring’ me (read: telling me off).
I will also welcome back people at every opportunity, in fact, like I once witnessed
from one respectful Ugandan lady as we were disembarking at Entebbe, I will
welcome back Hun as soon as we land in Nairobi, even though we will have traveled together. Good manners just!!! Indeed Uganda will always have a special place
in our hearts….. we have too many fond memories to take home with us and by the way, I am not about to change my ‘Oh Uganda
may God uphold thee’ ring tone any time soon. That is my prayer for Uganda.
To my Kenyan family, we are glad
to be coming back home. You graciously ‘married us off’ and gave us your
blessings as we, shortly after, set off to Uganda. We have had so many
nostalgic moments of ‘home’ while we were here in the Land of Museveni. We are
looking forward to reconnecting with long time friends and our wonderful family.
Hun and I have changed as much as we have remained the same and I am sure so
has each and every one of you. We hope you will receive and accept us with what
you may probably consider as oddities here and there…. well most of them as listed
above.
Luckily “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take
you in.” ~ Robert Frost quoted ~
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