To humble and to test...

This is trip #7 to visit our Ntshongweni family.  As pastor Thwala shares stories of greatest need across a village filled with such stories...

I can see!  We were provided reading glasses from someone at home, and Jessica and Valerie have been great at finding candidates for them.  Gogo Zulu and her two neighboring caretakers rejoiced at being able to see.  One of her neighbors operates a sewing business in a dimly lit home with difficulty seeing...  Imagine threading needles in these circumstances.  How about this reaction to receiving reading glasses?  God is good

I need shelter.  Pastor does an amazing job of knowing his sheep, here are two houses that he is praying to help renovate.  The first one has a rear section that is made from mud, stones and sticks and has a tarp covering it to prevent rain damage.  God has a plan.

This home has a young lady who is working selling bananas and trying to build a new home at the rear of her old home.  The existing home is missing entire walls that are replaced by galvanized steel sheets.  The new home hasn't had the best craftmanship, but could be corrected and repaired.  God has a plan.

I study without light.  Musa, 18 and on the path to matriculating from high school (challenging for orphans here) showed us his very neat room, study desk, books and materials organized below.  His light however, was burned and missing a bulb.  God prepared this in advance for us to resolve for Musa.

I'm the son of an orphan.  Meet Mpilo, Buchle Duma's son who is now 2 years old.  On our second trip we met the Duma family.  Four teenagers living without mom or dad for the past 10 years.  In the last 5 years they lost their youngest sister Nomfundo and gained a nephew seen below.  90% of the kids you see in these photos are orphans, many never knew their parents and fend for themselves.  Most don't have birth certificates and identification to apply for government assistance and there is very little help for them other than their pastor Thwala, stand in father for an entire community, courtesy of our God.

So, I feel ashamed when this all seems normal to me after experiencing it over the past 5 years.  Poverty fatigue.  Comfort, knowing I go home at the end of the week to work, home, working lights, transportation, Publix and a debit card...

I pray for two things; 

- To have God's heart and see the world as He does.

- To give glory to God in all things so more may come to life giving faith in Him.

I pray to remember;

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

Deuteronomy 8:10-14, 16-18 NIV

http://bible.com/111/deu.8.10-14,16-18.niv