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Memories from Burundi Pt.3

10/26
Last night after the glorious and inspirational service at Oasis, we noticed an announcement on the screen. 6am service M-F. Since we were staying across the street, a teammate and I asked if we could pretty please visit again. What an invigorating way to begin the day with corporate prayer, praise and worship, and then an exhortation from the Word! I thought, "man I could get used to this!" Church before work everyday. It was a refreshing start to the day. 

Unfortunately my good spirits didn't last. Today was a day that the flesh wrestled for control. It began when one of my old wounds was poked. I felt left out and rejected! Only girl on the team that can't sing, so I was assigned to pray. The thing is, I love to pray and intercede, but that didn't change the fact that I felt rejected. The teammate that I was paired up with for prayer wasn't openly enthusiastic either so I had two choices. Humble myself and pray or pout and not pray. Who ever heard of an effective prayer made in the flesh?

My teammate and I ended up having a very productive and thorough time in prayer, and my spirits lifted. However by this evening I was battling again! Just irritable, inflexible, murmuring, and complaining in my heart. So I had a little time out, prayed and asked God for help. I was impatient and tired, but God is faithful. By the time we made it to dinner I was back to my normal self. Even the meat in my vegetarian Stromboli didn't bother me! Well, mainly because I ended up getting a free chocolate mousse.

Lessons learned: #1 Corporate prayer and worship are not a substitute for private prayer and worship.  #2The process is more important than the result. Let me explain. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't be a part of the choir ensemble,  but the elimination process was  necessary for my character, even though the result was the same as I had predicted.  Also, we performed the human knot again today, and admittedly I didn't think it would work. We were more people and more tangled, and I was moody. The result was the same as the day before, we worked well together despite language barriers towards a common goal. But the process was different for me. This time I needed to put the same support and effort into something I didn't really believe in, for the sake of the team. I needed to decrease and allow something greater than my own personal whims to increase. I had to be quiet and endure the process.

10/27/13
Do you ever wake up and look at the clock only to realize you have five minutes to be somewhere?! Today was one of those mornings and I was not happy. After yesterday's flesh attack I was not trying to experience an encore. So I tried to stay low. 

Tonight was our concert collaboration. I was also supposed to share my testimony. I hadn't really spent time asking God what to share today, and I hadn't had my own personal quality time with the Lord. 

So as I sat in the flimsy but purposeful plastic chair I prayed that God would give me what to say. Sure a testimony is nothing but a story of how God has moved in your life, but anyone who knows me well knows I have dozens of testimonies. The question was what did God want me to share with this crowd of 100+ church attenders?

He brought to my remembrance a quote I had written down some several weeks before. I had been reading from a book on leadership by Myles Munroe and the wording struck me so! "You are spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally thirsty, but I am a walking well inside." Munroe had been recounting Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well as told in John 4. Munroe's paraphrase of what Jesus said to the woman was exactly what God had been trying to show me since my kindergarten salvation.  "Brittany you are spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally thirsty, but I am a walking well inside." I have tried to quench my thirsts in so many ways. Spiritually my thirst was quenched at salvation but I had no idea that there was provision for my psychological and emotional thirst. I thought that I could satisfy my thirst by trying to be the best, and securing the most affection from the opposite sex. At the end of many bad relationships and in the face of failure I couldn't help but acknowledge that I was still thirsty. It has only been over the last year that I have seen: that it's not success or marriage that will quench my thirst, and that rejection is a part of the human nature, therefore my pursuit of the one who would bestow continual acceptance has been in vain. Yet God has been with me all along, accepting and loving without requirements of perfection nor mandates for physical compensation. He has been faithful and consistent. He has been the well right in front of me beseeching me to drink, while I've been running to and fro!  "Brittany you are spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally thirsty, but I am a walking well inside." 

When I came across that quote in my Bible, I knew what was to be shared. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3zh8qxCQ7HQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D3zh8qxCQ7HQ
Saturday

Saturday for Floridians is beach day of course! Today we went to the "beach" at Lake Tanganikya, the source of all the delicious fish we had been eating and the setting for our late morning festivities. The young men from Ziga joyously greeted us as their pearl black skin contrasted with the sandy shore. Mountains dotted one shore's distance while the lake stretched out of view, opposite from where the waves rolled in. My most adventurous teammate went from our car to the water, faster than you could say Aye! And within no time at all the soccer game of the year was on. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the least bit competitive- and I mean that in the nicest way. the majority of our team was over 30, and it didn't take long for the Saturday sun to demand that they take it slow or else. One of our translators, Dany, who played on our TSC team claimed injury within 15 minutes! Furthermore the soccer field was sand. Burning hot and filled with an assortment of pointy objects, Team Ziga definitely had home field advantage along with every other advantage known to man. If our team prayed for victory, God refrained from granting that request. Once the game was over, you of course know who won, I had to hustle to capture the rented Team Ziga uniforms as the guys shot to the lake to cool off. 

It was a very pleasant afternoon as I strolled around , sand between my toes, pink skirt swirling in the wind. The kind of life a girl could get used to. It wasn't just beautiful scenery, it was the impact of the game as well. Simple in nature, but monumental in purpose. The Ziga team felt empowered as a result of the game. They saw the unity that they had been developing throughout the week pay off on the field. Most savory to them, they had beaten "the white man" and that meant all things are possible! 


Quick wardrobe change and it was time for a change in gears. My teammates united to mass produce the materials needed for an evening meeting with the youth at Alice's church. Now youth in Burundi seems to have quite the large definition, pretty much secondary school and up, I guess until you get married. So my teammate and I, both the same age, relished in facilitating the night's activities. We played a game, had an audience member demonstration, and small group sessions around godly friendships and accountable relationships. The time was already short because a wedding running on "African time" had  run over, but the youth wanted to keep talking and talking! It reminded me of YAM small groups! We'd talk all night if allowed. Tonight was such a high for me, that sweet spot where gifting has purpose and you don't even break a sweat, it was total joy. And like always, I learned as I taught. Sometimes I am a little too focused on my godly and accountable friendships, to the extent that I don't even try to befriend non believers. Convicting.

Sunday

Sunday really begins with Saturday night's dinner. It was delicious! Amazing fish that my roommate and I chose to top with the delightful and plentiful fruit salad. I don't know what else accompanied last night's meal, but everyday I have been rejoicing over the spinach and eating enough to make Popeye jealous. Today it caught up with me. Sick and exhausted, my frailty has hung like storm clouds the entire day. Luckily our schedule has been simple. Church. Marriage seminar at the hotel. I didn't even eat dinner tonight! I was too sick and tired. Besides, in two days we are going to the mountains of Ngozi, and I don't want to be sick for that! 

Monday, October 28th 

If you read my entry before traveling here, then you know that this season hasn't been without hardship and pain. Today was the day that it was like God took all my broken pieces from last school year and breathed wholeness upon them. My gifting with youth, teaching, and facilitating were affirmed. My willing attitude was complimented. Today was the moment in which the past had no choice but to disintegrate in the presence of the present.  



--
The time you spend alone with God will transform your character and increase your devotion. Then your integrity and godly behavior in an unbelieving world will make others long to know the Lord.
Charles Stanley






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