October Newsletter Update

Thank you to everyone for birthday wishes, love, encouragement, and messages. I am so grateful to have such a great “cloud of witnesses” supporting me from so far, and so near.

I celebrated my birthday at the DOORS Home with the boys and staff, and was surprised by the best cake I could ask for…a giant jackfruit…candle and all. The night ended with true Uganda birthday tradition: me ambushed by basins, pans, and cups full of water, and water balloons as I went to blow out my candle. This turned into a massive water fight with everyone drenched, and the DOORS living room our own personal slip’n’slide arena. (Don’t worry…no one was injured in the span of our festivities…)

My birthday celebration wasn’t the only one this month, many of the boys and some of the staff have also celebrated the beginning of a new year. I can guarantee, that as each of us reflected back on the previous year, none would imagine where we are now, and who we are with celebrating the beginning of another year. Last year on my birthday, yes, I was living in Uganda…but did I think I would be back for another water-soaked Ugandan birthday? Not really. Maybe…but not with the confidence I now have. The year before, I celebrated with my mother biking in New England…never did I expect the events that followed leading me to my first Ugandan birthday. Likewise, last year I never could have imagined the events of last year that led to this second Ugandan birthday.

John 3:8 tells us that “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Praise God that we don’t know where we’ll be or who we’ll be with or what we’ll be doing this time next year. It is evidence of His Spirit in us, and our willingness and obedience to follow His counsel.

Proverbs 19:21 says “Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.” This is true not only in each year of our lives, but also within each day. That has been the main lesson the Lord has been teaching me this month. My to do list is longer than I care to admit, and checkmarks coming slowly along with little surprises and additions to the list that each day brings. It’s been a great month here, amazing, but definitely busy. I’ve celebrated Uganda Independence Day with futbol and a paper airplane flying contest at the DOORS Home where I lived for a week, I’ve participated in a day of prayer and praise at DOORS Primary School where we are in a season of waiting upon the Lord for provision (pictured), I’ve spent more time at the school in general, I’ve completed writing my public health report for the Lira trip I took last month, I’ve been sick and recovered, and I baked for the first time in my life over a wood-burning stove making pumpkin cake.

Amidst all of that, this month I’ve also found myself growing weary. The Bible talks about growing weary. It tells us not to grow weary in doing good for in due time we shall receive our reward (Gal 6), It tells us to consider Him (Jesus) the author and perfector of our faith…that you may not grow weary (Heb 12). Despite, I have grown weary. That weariness has grown, I believe, out of my expanding focus on my to do list, and lack of intentional rest. I’m learning that check marks are less important that true rest, and each day seeking the Lord first will allow me to complete the tasks He has laid out for me that day which is more important than that to do list in my teal notebook.

I recently heard a quote from a sermon, “If we’ll remember what God has done for us in the past, it gives us confidence of what He’s going to do in the future.” Remembering where God has brought me, from pre-salvation to now, from Ca to Ga to Ma to Uganda, from 27 to 28, from my morning cup of coffee to my bedtime book, spurs me on to the adventure He will bring me through tomorrow whether it be productive or spent waiting, easy and encouraging or challenging and steep. Regardless, we need not fear, but anxiously look forward to what HE has for us, not what we have for ourselves.

May your day be full of surprises, and open eyes to the blessings He has bestowed around you.

God is able,

Ashley

Darkness

Walking through our gate just after sunset, I look at our home, the DOORS Home, just across the yard of overgrown grass. Darkness. The house is filled with utter darkness. At least that’s how it appears. That’s how satan is trying to get us to see our home, our ministry, our lives. A place deserted, hopeless, and in need. Our overdue electricity bill has left our house without power, and without lights. From afar, the house itself looks deserted with broken windows, rubbish about the yard, and looming shadows. It appears desolate and abandoned.

But that’s just what it looks like to the naked untrained eye. That’s just looking at the seen.

The truth is, this house is full of life, and full of light. If you spend enough time here, if you dare to proceed from the gate up the dewy yard, and actually enter through the front door…you will be welcomed by the things unseen. You will see joy, laughter, freedom, and praise all exuding. In fact, the noise will be so deafening that you may need to sit down for a second to take it all in. The light so bright, you may need to avert your eyes.

As you enter the center of the home, you will see Timothy playing worship songs on the guitar singing as loud as he can with Ivan backing him up on vocals and Richard beating away on the drum. You can’t even hear yourself think with their song of worship echoing throughout the compound. You will hear Morris laughing at the top of his lungs as only he can at something Fred said under his breath while making bracelets they learned in art class earlier in the afternoon. You will hear Sam and Shafick counting out loud as they roll dice and move their pieces around the monopoly board, their favorite game. You will see Bwankia fixing a pair of futbol cleats with the 3 little boys, Ibrah, Hassan, and Junior B, surrounding him hanging on every word he says to them. You will see Junior A. talking to himself as he faithfully attends to the fire and the dinner cooking above it. You will see all of this, without even a single little candle lit.

You will see joy. You will see praise. You will see laughter. You will see freedom from bondages. You will see fellowship. You will see unity. You will see LIGHT despite the apparent darkness. You will see the unseen.

Where you send darkness, satan, we make LIGHT. Where you see despair and poverty, we see ABUNDANCE. Get away from us satan, the power of the All-Mighty Powerful Redeeming God abides within these electric-less walls. Our eyes are fixed on the unseen, not the seen.

Where faith is found, abundance is found. We live in faith, we live in abundance.

II Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things unseen are eternal.”

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.”