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

A Life Long Commitment

When I came to Uganda the first time, God opened up my heart and mind in more ways than I can explain. The biggest lesson I learned was that God expects us to serve Him with all of our selves. No middle ground will do. It was this lesson that caused me to give myself completely to the will of God. I remember one afternoon sometime after I returned home, when I was struggling to find what I was suppose to do with my life. I laid my future down at His Throne, and I felt an overwhelming burden to go to the nations.... and well, there went my life! When you meet missionaries here in Jinja, one of the first questions asked is, “how long are you here for?” When they hear that I have committed a year, most respond with, “Oh that is a long time!” This then transitions us into the conversation about me wanting to do long term missions. I am surprised at the amount of people who say, “Yeah. Sounds like it! A year is pretty long term.” When that happens, I just shake my head, and change the su...
1 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

Jesus is Alive

God has brought so many people into my life since coming to Uganda. I met so many I can pour into, and together we can come closer to our Savior. Of course, my Ugandan friendships are my favorite. They are the reason I am here, and being able to share life with them changed me completely. But not all are Ugandan. I have made plenty of other mzungu friends as well. These are people God uses in my life to help hold me up, as I help hold them up. We are here because of our missional God, and we need the encouragement from one another to keep going. It is such a wonderful set up going on in Jinja! But I still have met those mzungus who I feel like I am pouring out into like I would my Ugandan friends. That is the strangest sensation, and sometimes feels like a hinderence to ministry. Let me introduce you to Peaches. For the life of me, I cannot remember her real name! But I was sharing with one of my friends what was going on with this woman, and for some reason that I cannot remember n...
Post a Comment
Read more