Finding Fulfillment & Freedom from Discontentment

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Last week, Abby, a missionary our Sunday School class has adopted, visited our class along with David, one of her native Ugandan ministry partners, to share about their ministry to street kids in Uganda.  Abby is the same missionary who helped start Hope House which I blogged about previously.  A brief summary of her ministry calling and information about her sending organization can be found here.  So far, this young, single, beautiful, and talented American woman has adopted 16 street kids as her own.  She has committed to remain in Uganda with these boys to support and raise them until they grow into mature, respectful, responsible, God fearing adults.

Street kids suffer sickness & countless injuries

She and her ministry team are dedicated to providing these boys with unconditional love, mentoring, discipleship, education, skills training, and the opportunity to pursue their dreams.

Learning new skills

She has found true freedom by laying down her life (comforts of America, personal prosperity, and dreams of getting married and having biological children of her own) to set oppressed children in Uganda free.   Abby has shared all about her African ministry over the past 4 years on her blog, Africa Love.

I find it very interesting that after surrendering everything to follow Christ's calling for her life, God is giving her back so much more.  She gave God her desire for a husband before she left the US because she assumed no man would want to spend the rest of his life in the slums of Kampala. Just this month, David, her ministry partner who once experienced life as a street kid in Uganda, proposed to her.  They will get married in April in Kampala with all their boys participating in the wedding.  Photos of the happy couple can be viewed here.

The stories she shares on her blog will break your heart. Consider taking time to read Manuel's story here.  He is just one of countless boys who was forced out of his home due to abuse, hunger, neglect, and abandonment.  Alone and penniless, he spent his nights trying to sleep on garbage heaps out in the streets where violence and sickness are rampant. A majority of Uganda's wealthier residents reject street kids, attempting to put them out of sight and out of mind.  Whatever gifts they may receive from ministry workers like Abby are often stolen from them while they sleep outside on the streets.  Life has hardened these boys, and the only means of escape that most of them think they have is through the use of street drugs.

Abby also shares inspiring stories on her blog about street kids who have overcome through faith in Christ.  She helps her readers see past the images of starving children that evoke pity from Americans to a place where they can better understand and show empathy and respect for our brothers and sisters in Africa.  Jumah's story is fascinating.  Abby shares this quote on her blog:

"Americans look down on Africans. I see it all the time, they sit on this high stool and pity Africans because they are poor. Next time you see a child sponsorship video on TV, truly watch it. You will only see suffering children with flies on their face and tears staining their cheeks, and I am not saying that is not unrealistic, but it is in no way the full story. I have seen starving children laugh.  I have seen them play, and fight, and play tricks on each other. Children are children no matter where you go. Poverty does not take from them their humanity, their intelligence, or their beauty. You must understand someone in order to truly love them, not just pity their circumstances. Some of the happiest people I have met are poor.  Poverty creates hardship not necessarily misery."

These are the types of boys that she has taken into her home, and with the help of Godly ministry partners, these boys are being transformed through the love of Christ into respectful, disciplined, loving, outgoing, Christian boys with great hope and promise.  God's love in action is setting these boys free!

Their ministry continues to grow.  They recently took a huge step of faith which required using up all their savings to buy 22 acres of land with the plan of establishing another home for more street kids.  This home will intentionally not operate as an orphanage but as a real home where kids become treasured members of a God honoring family.  They also plan to use the land for crops so the boys can work to make the home self-sustaining.  She purchased the land  while trusting the Lord to provide the additional funds required to build on the land.  When Abby and David visited us, our Sunday School class gave them a financial gift that should be enough to build at least three new buildings on this new property.  I suspect that our little class isn't the only one God is using to grow His work in Uganda.

Matthew 7
   ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Abby's example of personal surrender resulting in exponential freedom is so contrary to natural human reasoning.  We are all born with an innate desire to cling to whatever we have and to work in our own strength for our own self preservation.  Yet, Abby writes in her blog journal:

"I am SO happy here. It is a different happiness that I am feeling now. Not the giddy, excited, joyful one that I used to feel........ I feel it deeply, all the way to my soul that I am here, home, doing exactly what I was created to do. I feel fulfilled and exactly where God wants me. Although sometimes I feel heavy, serious, and sad- the incredible blessing of being able to serve street children is a joy that is ever simmering within me. I love it here."

The freedom I am trying to process right now is the freedom from the bondage of discontentment that plagues so many Americans.

Many people, especially those living in affluent parts of America, battle discontentment.  We constantly chase after fulfillment, but it seems so elusive.  We just keep yearning for more.  As children, we can't wait to grow older so we can have more freedom while totally ignoring the responsibility that comes with it.  We yearn for more friends, more toys, and more attention.  As we mature, we yearn for academic success and for a spouse who will love us lavishly till death do us part.

Then we think that we'll be satisfied if we obtain a great job and have beautiful children.

Next, we yearn for bigger houses, nicer cars, job promotions, and financial security.  We long for our kids to excel in all they do.  We will never be satisfied as long as we try to fill our God shaped hearts with all the things this world offers.

True contentment and freedom from wanting more of this world can only come by pursuing a relationship with Christ.  As we get to know Him, His purposes for our lives become more clear.  God called Abby to Africa, and since she walks so closely with Him, she has found contentment in the center of His plan for her life.  He has called me on some short term missions and church planting opportunities in the past, but in this particular season, He has simply called me to homeschool our children. The steps I must take next will  become clear as I surrender all that I hold on too tightly for myself.   

Psalm 119 (NIV 2010)
³⁵ Direct me in the path of your commands,
   for there I find delight.
³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes
   and not toward selfish gain.
³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
   preserve my life according to your word.

True freedom comes in letting go!

 

*To respect privacy and copyrights, I have obviously included photos of our children instead of African street kids for this post.