Katie Davis returns to the United States from her year of mission work in Uganda. She’s returned to attend college, as she promised her parents she would do. She is keeping her promise, and she is miserable, grumpy and feeling disconnected from what her life had become in Uganda.
She knows her 19 girls – her “family” she adopted in Uganda – will be okay.
She trusts God to provide needed funds -- $70,000 of needed funds – for the mission work. Over a period of months, it’s provided, “and then some.”
She finds a few people who really do understand the conflict she’s experiencing.
And she learns one of the hardest and most important lessons of her young life: God is in control, and He is as much involved in her college and family as He is in Uganda.
Katie knows that her heart is in Uganda; she also knows it is the place she’s supposed to be. But for a time, she is “back home,” honoring the commitment to her parents, even if it is making her feel grumpy and at loose ends.
But God is there, too, right at home.
This chapter in Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption by Katie Davis and Beth Clark reminds me of a conversation I had a long time ago I had with a colleague at the place I was then working. We were both Christians; we were both in exactly the same boat – banished to a kind of wilderness where our skills, experience and talents were going largely unused.
“It’s hard,” I said. “Well, it’s more than hard. It’s often miserable. We sit here, doing things that are easy to do, watching others do things badly that we both know we could do far better. But for whatever reason, this is where we are; this is where God has us. David had to live in a cave, too, for a time.”
The words were easier to say than to live, but simply saying them helped. It was as if by saying them aloud, we both could accept what we were dealing with.
I suspect the same was going on with Katie.
Led by Jason Stasyszen and Sarah Salter, we’ve been discussing Kisses from Katie. To see more posts on this chapter, “A Promise to Keep,” please visit Jason at Connecting to Impact.
8 comments:
"But for whatever reason, this is where we are; this is where God has us. David had to live in a cave, too, for a time.”
Need this today. Thanks, Glynn.
Wherever we are... we have reason in Him. He is in control.
May I always find contentment and joy in His reason.
It's so much easier to look at someone else's situation and say, "Hey, you shouldn't act like that" but it is very difficult to see it in ourselves sometimes. If we can learn (even a little) from others and then inevitably from our own experiences, we can move quickly to trust our Father has everything worked out. I've been in a few caves myself, Glynn. Thanks for this.
Beautiful post and reminder Glynn.
Thank you.
This book is in my stack; I didn't know there are a group of you reading through this. I might have to pick it up and try to catch you! Thanks for these good words. I feel like I am in a bit of a cave myself right now. But God is asking me to stay, scratch a few drawings on the wall here.
Sort of an interesting cave situation right now, as a matter of fact. No one ever tells you retirement can be like that. Learning to settle into the truth that gifts and call must shift , morph, be re-invented. And patience is required here, too. Thanks for this, Glynn.
I was struck by the cave statement as well. Our agenda isn't always His agenda.
So much wisdom in this.
Post a Comment