The South Africans are so giving and loving. They want to bless me and I’m like “No! I’m here to bless you!” They don’t ask for anything. They just want to give and show love. The experience of generosity here is something I’ve never experienced. My heart literally feels swollen. I have this overwhelming desire to pour out blessings to them. All good gifts are from above. God is using me to bless His people.
Psalm 119:32 “For You shall enlarge my heart.”
You have Lord!
Such a small amount of money goes such a long way here. It is such a humbling experience to know one hour of me working could pay for groceries for an entire month here.
When you have the perspective that everything comes from God, it makes giving a natural desire. For instance, the Lord blessed me with my private practice, He brought clients to me, He has given me gifts and talents to be an effective therapist and He provided my income, it’s a blessing from Him. He did all of this, so that I can bless others.
We are blessed to be a blessing.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40
He fed the hungry, healed the sick and welcomed the outsiders. When we serve others we are serving Him. Lord, help us to follow Your example and to give extravagantly. Help us to leave a trail of goodness behind us and astonish people with Your goodness.
The constant command in the Bible is this: What you have received as a gift, give as a gift, and you will find the original gift multipled and enhanced. Enter into the loop of grace.
This trip to South Africa seems to have been a time of preparation, like a sample for me. A taste of what it would actually be like to stay here. It’s like God provided an opportunity for me to dip my toe in the water and not just dive in, like I attempted to before.
Prior to this trip, I had come with an organized group so I had no exposure to what it would be like being here on my own. I think God knew I didn’t have any idea of what I was signing up for and because He is so sweet and mindful of us, He was kind enough to change my plans.
This experience has been so beneficial. I’ve learned about foods I have access to, where I need to go to get different items. I learned what SA doesn’t have, that I would need to bring with me. I learned about how to dress here. I brought a huge suitcase of clothes and really only wanted to re-wear a few items due to the heat but also seeing how people dress here, what’s appropriate in their culture. I brought way more things than I needed.
I learned about the structure of their day, what time they do things. It’s been a research phase. Time is so different here too. Plans are more spontaneous, less planned, less rigid when it comes to what time things start and end. Due to loadshedding, water being turned off and other unpredictable things, having firm plans often doesn’t make sense.
It was a learning experience for me to get to practice counseling here. To have some good experiences and some not so good experiences, to learn about how their culture differs from ours. Also, people were able to meet me, get to know me, feel more comfortable with me so that they’d be more receptive to making an appointment with me when I come back.
Yes, when I come back.
I was praying, telling God I wanted to be in both places at once. How can I do this?
Asking Him to show me, reveal to me what His plans are for me. What came to mind during my prayer time was coming to SA twice a year, for shorter trips. I could leave some of my belongings so I don’t have to pack as much when I come. By going back and forth, I could have an income, save up money in between visits to enable me to pay for travel, and be able to take time off work unpaid. By saving money, I can be more generous to the South Africans while I visit. It wouldn’t be too long away from work that I could still maintain my private practice. I want the ability to be generous financially and physically while I am here.
The pastor showed me a room in the church they are going to make into an office for me. They want me to take a video of my current office and send it to them so they can create one that is similar.
I met with the pastor and I told him about my thoughts about coming back. He said March was a good time because that is when they will have their serve week. When we came in March, we helped them develop a serve week where the church gathered in the community to do different serve projects each day. Next year will be their first time implementing it on their own and he wanted me to help them with this.
I asked him how many weeks he thought would be best for me to come. He said 2-4, so I said, well then how about 3?! He thought this would be good because he could create a schedule for people in the community to sign up for therapy appointments prior to me coming so I would have a booked scheduled upon my arrival. He said that he would typically do short term therapy, seeing people once per week for 6 weeks. I could see them twice a week for 3 weeks.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself and try to plan out my long term future with SA because I know that I can make my plans but the Lord determines my steps (Proverbs 16:9). I think God wants me to focus on coming back in March and He’ll tell me what happens next later.
When I met with the pastor, I asked him what the plans were for purchasing the bigger church. He said that the church voted on it, 52% wanted to buy it and 48% didn’t. He didn’t want the church to be divided. He said the amount of money it would take for them to purchase the new church is the same amount of money it would take to do the maintenance needed on their current church and to expand, renovate it. He said something needed to be done because their congregation has grown past capacity. Imago Dei is one of two churches in the town.
I told him that I wanted to save and raise money over the next 3 months and help fund their church renovation. I asked him what the estimate was for this project. He said 400,000 rand, which is approximately 20k US. My goal is to save and raise 10k in 3 months, transfer it to rand and bring it with me when I return.
If any of you feel so inclined to donate, I would greatly appreciate it! I do not want birthday or Christmas gifts. If this is something you would normally do for me, I ask that you consider donating to South Africa instead. https://www.thechambersforlifechange.com/donate
They all want me to stay. I told them if they found me a South African husband I would consider it!
I feel like Hagar. She was in the wilderness, out of water. The angel told her not to give up. She suddenly sees a well she did not see before. God provided water.
Genesis 21:19 “Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.”
I feel like my eyes are opened to what really matters and the reminder that God is the provider and that He will lead me to the well. What’s in the well is water… and I am thirsty!