complete faith.

it was 7AM kenya time and we had landed in nairobi and were waiting for our luggage. i was so thankful because i had just seen my bag and was about to grab it right when an older looking kenyan man came to me, looked at my shirt (with the GOYA logo on it), and hugged me with a traditional african hug :)
this was my first encounter with pastor shardrack. and from the minute i saw the joy on his face that clearly flowed from his heart, i felt at home and knew i was in the exact place the Lord wanted me to be.
pastor shadrack has been working in mitumba for about 7 years with his wife violet. before his time there, he was ministering in youth camps throughout kenya. while he was working in a camp in nairobi, someone brought some youth from mitumba to his camp and invited him to mitumba. when he went to mitumba, he saw the great need of the people and especially the children and the Lord stirred his heart to begin a ministry there. since that time, him and his wife have seen the Lord working in miraculous ways in the lives of the people and children of mitumba. they have trusted with complete, pure faith that the Lord will provide all their needs each day. their words match their actions, their faith is seen in every area of their lives and there is not a conversation that you can have with pastor where he does not talk about the Lord, and His goodness, and the miracles that He performs each day.

they have allowed themselves to be so open to be used by the Lord that the Lord has blessed them tremendously by allowing them to see His work and how He can provide. because of their faith and trust, they have seen the Lord in ways that i have never seen, in ways that many people in our culture have never been able to see.
i was immediately challenged and began to question my life, and wondering if we are missing something big, something HUGE by not putting ourselves in situations where we have to trust the Lord. now, i don't mean making a decision about which job to take or what the Lord's timing is for something (although these are all important things), but i am talking about trusting the Lord by saying, "Lord, today is yours. you want me to feed these children. i am not sure how it will be done, but i know you called me here and i know you are faithful." i'm sure pastor's prayers sound something like this on a daily basis. what would it look like if we allowed ourselves to pray that prayer? well, it would require us first having to put ourselves in a situation with that great of a need to even know the heart behind a prayer like that. it would call us to choose to set aside our wants and ask the Lord in what way can we sacrifice something for him today. pastor clearly understands this better than i do, and i keep thinking he knows something about the Lord that i do not because he has seen him in ways i hope and pray that someday i can have the faith to see.

one of my favorite things that came from pastor's lips often was this,
"when the Lord is put first, He will not disown His name."
when we put the Lord as first in our lives and in our hearts, He is the one who will receive the glory. people will see him and not us, and because of that the Lord is going to honor and glorify His name. when blessings and gifts come, they are acknowledged as coming from the Lord and that will always give Him the glory. it is Him who is doing the ministry in mitumba, not pastor and violet. they have put him first and He has honored their servant's hearts and has blessed the people of mitumba through them.


it is clear that God is alive and working in the lives of the children and people of mitumba. His name is being glorified and spread throughout this small place, where from first glance it may look like nothing but a hopeless place. but hope is rising and lives continue to be changed, through the pure joy that comes from serving the Lord and through the complete faith of knowing the Lord is all they need.

"the joy of the Lord is our strength"