Drawing Closer to Truth

God uses all things to teach. He uses all things to draw us closer to Truth (Himself). And this past week was no exception.

True confession time. It is not infrequent of late that we get discouraged. Most of our WGM Uganda colleagues are on home ministry assignment. It seems they have been gone for so long. We are filling in for several people. We are helping in a variety of roles and places and situations. But sometimes it seems like there is so much to do and so few to do it and we end up feeling like nothing is happening when there is so much that could be happening.

In those moments of discouragement the darkness seems to close in. We hear disappointing news from ministry partners and/or we hear frustrations from co-laborers in the church. The local news reports crime and abuse and all manner of evil.  You all know what we mean. It doesn’t matter where in the world we are, darkness is all around us.

But God meets us there. Last week we got some really great views of the solar eclipse. Our location in Kampala did not allow us to see the total eclipse but we saw about a 98% eclipse. And you know what amazed us? Even with only approximately 2% of the usual light from the sun reaching down to our place on the hill, it was still very light. It definitely got darker than usual for that time of day, but it was amazing how much light there still was when we could only visualize a very small rim of the sun.

A couple of early mornings later Christine awakened with a headache. She reached over and turned off the alarm, deciding another 30+ minutes of sleep was in order. However, it was difficult for her to get back to sleep because the curtain was left open in the bedroom and the bright light was too much. She vowed that when she got up she would close that curtain. When she did actually get up, she could only see the tiniest gap in the curtain, so small that at first she thought she had only imagined the opening in the curtain. Again, the smallest amount of light made a big difference.

And God spoke to us. Yes, darkness is all around us. But Light is within us and also all around us and Light dispels darkness all the time. Even the tiniest amount of light is enough to make a difference. We need to change our heart focus to look for Light rather than be discouraged at darkness. He showed us some of His light shining through others.

We had a lovely evening of fellowship with Ugandan friends recently. They shared their burden for the children in their church and in their community. They hope to one day establish a Bible School for children, empowering kids to share God’s word with others. It was wonderful to pray together and share ideas and see how Light is moving to dispel darkness.

We prayed for our colleagues involved in a retreat for young people. We rejoice in the report that Salvation was found.  As youth repented and came to God He met them and transferred them from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Jeff has the joy of meeting weekly (at least) with a small group of young men associated with local university ministries. They discuss how God is enlightening them through the book they are studying. The heart-sharing brings Light into the discussions and teaches truth. Jeff also meets once a week with a Kenyan friend/pastor and together they walk closer to Light Himself because of the mutual encouragement and learning.

We recently read words of encouragement sent to us by email. Some of those folks mentioned in their messages that while they don’t regularly write us they are glad to be a part of what God is doing in Africa through prayer and through reading what we report. Those timely words brought light to us.

God reminds us He is Light. He invited us here to let His light shine. Our presence on this compound on this hill in this city in this nation is hosting His Light in the darkness. We are confident in Him. He is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all. What a relief. What a tremendous encouragement.

Standing in the Light,

Jeff and Christine