Trading the comforts of this life

Yesterday the electricity was out almost 24 hours. The heat is increasing here. The phone lines haven't been working for weeks now and all I want to do is call my mom. Fuel is scare and very expensive. My feet are always dirty. My best friend is about to have a baby girl and I am not there with her. Sometimes I wish I could just close my eyes and wake up back home. But I realize that I have traded the comforts of life in America for the work of the harvest here in Nigeria. I am realizing more and more what it means to "take up your cross daily and follow me!" All I have to do is think of my patients here or those amazing VVF women that need to hear about Jesus and I am content. I am so satisifed in Jesus Christ and with the work that He has called me to. When I think about the ministry God has given me here I stand amazed day after day.

This morning in my quiet time I was reading from Isaiah 58, how appropriate for my time with the VVF women today.

"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter------"

Isaiah 58: 6-7

Today I shared the story about how Jesus fed the five thousand. As each wide eyed woman listened intently, something resonated deep in their hearts. There were at least 35 women there, many who are living in bondage, in oppression. I shared about Jesus' call for anyone to come unto him and to find rest. As I think about these precious women my heart aches, because they have not experienced the love of our Savior! Each week when I stand there talking with them I want to cry because I see the emptiness, the pain and suffering that they have gone through. Today I told them that I loved them because God loves them. I don't know the pain and sorrow they are experiencing, but God does and He cares for them more than I ever could. He is the Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel and is the God who sees them! Praise God for His lifesaving power. That reminds me of a Hausa song which goes something like this: "Ya yi ya yi, Allah ya yi, abin da mutum bayiba Allah ya yi, ya yi ya! God he has done what no man can do! AMEN and AMEN.

I wouldn't trade the joy of knowing Jesus for anything this life has to offer-- for nothing can satisfy me like He does. What about you? Where do you find your satisfaction?