Where He wants me
Tomorrow is exactly one month since I left the Winnipeg airport and waved goodbye to my family. That day was a hard day for me. I remember thinking as I was sitting on the plane at 6:30am in Winnipeg waiting to take off …“I can still get off.. I can still change my mind and go back to my family.” But, I didn’t run, I faced the unknown and for that I am grateful. Leaving home and family and the familiar is never easy but I know that God has blessed me because I chose to trust in Him and leave those things. The Lord has come with me to Swaziland and is holding my hand and showing me that this is where He wants me.
The Lord has already taught me so much since arriving in Swaziland. Living here is like a breath of fresh air. Sometimes living in North America and trying to serve Jesus is very challenging and seeing people with a real passion for the Lord seems rare. Here at the farm in Hawane, I am surrounded by people who are putting Jesus first before everything else, people who trust in God to provide for all of their needs, who worship Jesus with an incredible passion. It is really challenging me in my faith and allowing me to question my identity in Christ and what it looks like to live as Jesus did. I came here prepared to serve others; love the broken hearted and to make a difference. I am still prepared to do that but I am realizing that God is working in MY heart more than I would have guessed and I have only been here for three weeks. It excites me to think about everything else that the Lord has to teach me, the new revelations that He will give me.
One of the biggest revelations that God has given me since being here is that I am to create a testimony with my life. About two weeks ago I was struggling all week .. thinking of home and missing the things of the past. I was missing the days where things weren’t challenging, where life was good and comfortable. Then in church that week, a lady went to the front and gave a word that God had put on her heart. She said that she saw a playground and that God is saying its time to get off of that playground and stop looking back to our childhood… to the comfortable and easy days but that we need to step onto a platform and create a testimony. God really spoke to my heart that day. I need to embrace where I am today and live for Jesus while realizing that it is going to be a challenge but that through the challenges I will be creating in me a powerful testimony. God did not call us as Christians to live a life of comfort but to step out of our comfort zones and serve Him, no matter what kind of challenges we are faced with.
That is only one of the many things that I am learning. I am also seeing the value in living in community. Our leaders Jason and Cara and their boys along with our team of 5 is growing so close to each other. God has really been knitting our hearts together and giving us a deep love for each other. For one of the first times in my life I really feel like I know what it looks like to be the church in Acts. My team, my family is my church. In Acts 2:44-47 it says –
“And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
I realize that we still have a long way to go to get to this point but we are putting into practice many of these things and I see so much fruit coming from this.
The highlight of my time in Swaziland thus far has probably been the leadership training that we put on last week for a group of 20 students that came from a secular high school in Swaziland. We lead sessions on leadership, had small groups with them, played heaps of team building games and just had fun hanging out with the kids for 2 and a half days. On the second day, Jason lead a session and had the kids get into pairs and share their deepest fear after he told his own personal story of what he fears the most. It was a simple question but from there kids started to cry and weep, the Spirit was really moving in their lives and amazing things happened that afternoon. Every single student surrendered their life to Jesus. What we realized when we were debriefing as a team after the kids had left was that we didn’t once preach at them. We simply loved them and gently spoke of God when it felt right and we ended up with 20 teenagers joining God’s family. God is good.
There is so much more that I could say about the beginning of this journey of mine in Swaziland, I wish that I could write about everything. Every day is a challenge; trying to learn about the African culture and realize that getting the job done and being on time isn’t as important here (its about being relational), trying to figure out the people on my team and how to bless them and not step on toes, trying to balance alone time, time with God and time with the people I love, etc. Though each day brings its challenges, each day is such a blessing as I am learning so much. God is so faithful and I am so grateful that He has chosen ME to come and serve Him in Hawane, Swaziland; who would have thought? Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, I will surely update again in the near future.
If you want to follow a more detailed story of my journey you can also follow on www.amydoiron.wordpress.com
Blessings from the Hawane farm!!
