Skip to main content

Welcome Home

Some of our children come from areas around Kampala. When they are out of school, we will send them home to visit families. This holiday, they were gone for two weeks and there were five of them. The house just seemed so quiet. Sure, there was still plenty of noise, but not to the extent of fourteen children enjoying life and running wild. By the end of their stay, I was ready for them to come home!
I estimated what time they would be home, and every time I heard anything at the gate or any honk outside, I went to see if it was them. Finally they arrived home at around 8 in the evening. We had just started our nightly prayers, and were in the middle of a song. I saw the headlights through the gates and screamed to the top of my lungs, waving my arms in the air, and skipping out of the house. Everyone else followed shortly. The kids piled out of the van screaming with pure excitement. Ivan, who is just a solid rock of muscle, jumped into my arms as he shouted the most beautiful words, “AUNTIE MARY!” He then jumped from my arms to someone else's arms. Keep in mind, he is twelve. Then Moureen gave me the biggest hug, as she lifted me off of the ground. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever witnessed. Not only was I tickled to pieces that the rest of the kids were home, but those who stayed behind were equally ecstatic. Our giggles lit the night sky.
I pictured the reunion we will receive in Heaven. What a great and glorious welcome that must be! We fight the battles on this world. We are beat and tired, separated from those we love who have gone before us. We finally make it home. The pressures we have fought for so long vanish. We are soldiers returning home after a long battle. We know we are safe from the harm of the enemy. We can squeeze the necks in a glorious reunion. I am a giggly person, and I know on the day I will be laughing myself silly! Love and laughter will fill the air on that glorious day.

Above all, we will be in the presence of our Savior. He will welcome us home. We will finally grasp Christ in all His glory. No other welcome will compare to that day.

Comments

  1. JenayAugust 23, 2014 at 7:13 PM

    Sweet!!!! You are blessing my heart by being there and loving on the kids and Uganda so very much!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Time I Made My Dog Puke

  Fridays are my day off. They generally consist of me barricading myself inside my compound with my pups. We may do a number of things, but usually it is a whole lot of nothing! As Thursday evening approached, I looked forward to my Friday. Oh, I would nap and maybe binge watch something stupid, but most importantly, never get dressed! This dream crashed when I realized my house was the only one not receiving power. This meant calling the electric company and corralling my enthusiastic lab away from people who are terrified of him. But we did it. This brings us to noon. I still had half the day to relax. I sprawled out on my bed and put on an episode of Psych, one of my favorite shows. I get ten minutes into the episode, when I hear Teddy barking at the gate. He is such a wonderful watchdog. He has different barks that I have learned, which help me to know if I should respond or not. He will give off a warning, but if someone pushes the bounds, he produces a sound so intimidating ...
Post a Comment
Read more

State of Praise

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.” Philippians 4:4 reminds us to have a spirit of praise in all circumstances. It does not say to rejoice in the good, when ministry is smooth and all things are going the way you pictured them. Nor does it say to give up in times of struggle. It says to ALWAYS rejoice, to be in a spirit of praise through thick and thin! The past few weeks have been a battle. Living in Uganda means you are surrounded by images of poverty, brokenness, and death on a daily basis. That alone will encourage anyone to lose a spirit of praise. But of course, that is not all I deal with. Lately, it seems like everything is coming down at one time. Dear people in my life are struggling, including people back in the States. These are people who I use to be there to hold a hand through difficult times, and now they are going through something else and I am halfway around the world. A couple have confessed they wished I were there instead, and no matter how much ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Would You Go With Me?

In 5 short days, I will be heading back to America. I must say, going home proves to be a much larger leap of faith than when I came here to Uganda. I had three weeks to prepare. I knew that God was calling me, so I dropped everything and came. Now, I am returning to basically nothing. Sure, God continues to provide for me, and I know He will continue once I land and jump back into American life. However, I am still nervous. For the past couple months, I have been praying that God would go before me and pave the way. A few days ago, a friend of mine was praying over my return. She prayed that God would not only go before me, but go with me. Those words struck my heart, and I have been mulling over them for the past couple days. I cannot count how many times I have prayed God would move before me -- to work in hearts of those I would be meeting -- to guide me through a new adventure. Yet rarely, if ever, have I prayed that God would go with me, where He should be in the first place. I ...
Post a Comment
Read more