A dream come true

Last week I renewed my nursing license. We drove across the city to the office of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council. On the way I reminisced through my childhood dream, my dream of being a nurse one day. I wanted to help people.

Oregon License

June of 1981 my dream became a reality. I graduated from nursing school. November of the same year I received my official registration (RN) from the Oregon State Board of Nursing. Hooray! I worked as a hospital nurse for nine years in Oregon, learning much and helping many people. Through nursing I connected people to Jesus. I loved my work.

Kenyan License

 Little did I know that ten years later I would become a KRN; a registered nurse in Kenya. My dream multiplied. I was Christine Stanfield, RN, KRN. My avenue for helping people multiplied as well. Oh, how I loved teaching nursing students, in Tenwek School of Nursing, how to help people. My students helped more people than I ever could as just one nurse. They connected many people to Jesus. I loved my work.

Ugandan License

Imagine my surprise when 21 years later God invited Jeff and me to join Him in what He is doing in Uganda. We moved to Kampala, the capital city, in 2012. For the first year I observed and I listened. I learned much. Then my dream multiplied again. I went through the process to be registered as a nurse in Uganda. Now I am Christine Stanfield, RN, KRN, URN (Uganda Registered Nurse). I don’t work in a hospital and I don’t teach in a nursing school. I still help the people God brings my way.

At a Sports Tournament

Sometimes they come to my door. Sometimes I go to where they are playing sports. Once in a while I give advice on medication dosages or clarify medical reports for people unpracticed in reading the medical language. I teach community health lessons, helping people know how to help themselves and others. I take blood pressures and pray with pregnant women as I hand out a maternity delivery kit, called a Mama Kit. I have many opportunities to give spiritual care, connecting people to Jesus. I help people. I love my work.

I had a dream and God multiplied it. I am a nurse. I help people, connecting them to Jesus. I love my work.

What is your dream? Are you willing to let God multiply it?
                     
                                             Christine

Too Much!

Recently, I was in a long line of people, all of us waiting our turn. I watched people, some seeming to carry heavy burdens by the way they moved and interacted with others. Snatches of conversations overheard were filled with unkind words. I thought of many things I had recently heard and seen. I felt the weight…

Then, completely unbidden, my eyes began to leak. My heart felt too heavy for breath to come and I thought my knees would buckle. I cried out in my spirit, “O God! The weight of sin is too much. The burden of sin is too much, too much to ask of us to see the sin of others and feel its weight. O

God, help me!”

And it was almost as if Jesus Himself spoke in an audible voice within me, “My daughter. I am come. I already bore the sin of all mankind that you might know freedom and never have to carry that weight. I am the Savior of the world and I am come. I am here.”

Immediately, my spirit cried out in deep gratitude, tears flowing as I soaked in the joy of knowing my Savior, of having Him here, of His being with me. My heart cried out with Mary, mother of Jesus, “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…for The Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name!” (Luke 1:46, 47, 49-NASB)

I felt released from the weight as suddenly as I had felt it come. I remembered the words of Zacharias as he prophesied over his newborn son, “To grant to us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.” (Luke 1:74-75-NASB)

I reached my turn of being served, then turned to walk away. It was SUCH A RELIEF, realizing all over again that I need a savior, and He is come! He is present. With me. Always. I have not to carry the burden of sin. I have Him to offer instead.

I still am broken by Love Himself. I still feel the heaviness of sorrow over sin. I still cry with those who cry out for help in their brokenness and/or sin. But I don’t carry the weight. Instead, I offer Jesus. Not some platitude, not some shadow of someone yet to come, but the Real One. Jesus is here. Now. Actively present, He is.

It isn’t heavy. It is a privilege, “to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God…” (Luke 1:77-78a-NASB)  I am not John the Baptist, but like him, I have the privilege of offering Jesus to others, serving Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all my days.

Christine

Remembering, with Gratitude in My Heart

 Today I cut up a mango. Three of them, actually. And as I did so, I remembered this conversation.

“You live in Africa. Please, tell me the perfect way to cut a mango.” (Said with a friendly smile.)

“Well, I don’t know if there is a perfect way. I just cut them like this because it works for me.” (Laughing.)

“Yes, well, I guess there really isn’t a perfect way for much of anything, is there? Not much perfection this side of heaven.” (Said with a slight sigh as she watched me cut the mango.)

“So true. But one day we will know perfection and it will likely astound us.”

Janette Stoltzfus and daughter Melissa

The friend with whom I shared this conversation, the one looking to find the perfect way to cut up a mango, left for heaven a year ago. She knows perfection. I have no doubt she was initially astounded.

But then again, I doubt she was all that astonished. At least not for long. I mean, I doubt she experienced culture shock in any great degree. She had been practicing the culture of heaven for as long as I have known her, which was not nearly long enough.

My friend, she gave. And gave. And gave some more. And actually she is still giving, for through her generosity others learned to give and as generosity became her culture so it continues in her family and friends and through her community-at-large. She is still somehow giving us all so much.

She loved. And loved. And loved some more. She is still loving, actually, through all she taught her family and her friends, loving in how she established the culture of her home and her life. Yes, she still loves. Love never stops. It just keeps on giving, keeps on living.

She worshiped God. A lot. She worshiped our God and Savior as naturally as she welcomed people into her home. She led us in worship. She showed us living is an act of worship to the God who made us, who died for us, the very one who created heaven for us. She trusted God and served Him with her whole being. I find great joy in knowing she is still worshiping God, wholly and truly and without any hindrance or distraction. I feel eager to do the same one day, where she is, with her, smiling together as we worship our God.

She prayed as she was taught, “Your kingdom come and Your will be done here as it is in heaven.” I heard her. We wept and prayed it together; around the table in her home in Oregon, around the table in our home in Kenya, at church….she prayed, praising God for His faithfulness. And God answered, by the way. His Kingdom is at hand. My friend lived there even as she is now living there.

And so, having lived in the Kingdom of God for most of her life, I know my friend may have been astounded at the first glance of perfection, but then I presume she recognized the Kingdom right away and felt quite at home. I have no doubt it was but a moment before she turned and smiled, ready to welcome the next one in.

I cut a mango today. Three of them, actually. And I dripped a tear or two as I remembered my friend, grateful for her in my life. I remain grateful Janette is still giving and loving and worshiping and praising.

Christine