To God Be the Glory

On Thursday at Bible study, an amazing woman named Esther Ntoto spoke. She and her husband Camille are missionaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I'm not sure if they are from there, but they are from somewhere in Africa and they came here to get degrees from Vanguard University. They did that and went back to The DR of Congo and have been there the past 6 months. Did you know that 3,800,000 people have died in this country since 1998? This is the greatest death toll since WWII...yet we don't even know whats going on!!

Esther told stories that made most of the women in the room weep. She told of little girls being raped and old women used as sex slaves. The amazing thing to me is that these women pray for another chance so that they can SHARE THE WORD OF GOD. They just want to be used by God! WHAT??? I live the most cushioned, easy life...yet I have a hard time making God my priority. Some days my biggest dilemma is Ezekiel taking short naps, or which kind of organic apples should I buy...puts things into perspective, doesn't it? Just because my life is easier doesn't give me an excuse to not have the faith these women (and men) have.

30,000 people die of starvation a month in this country alone. There is little available food and water, so the soldiers are encouraged to use rape as a weapon of war to control those resources. There are small children left orphans by AIDS and teenagers forced to watch their family members being killed because they would not sexually assault each other. This is in our world. Today.

One of my first thoughts was about my parents, who are both in school, and are praying about returning to Uganda at some point in the future. They will face many of these things, but they will be the feet of Jesus; the hands of Jesus; and the love of Jesus. They will be praying for healing, teaching about animals and their care, putting in IV's and giving meds, loving the dirty little children and truly living out their faith. I have realized my role right now is to pray diligently for these African countries. If you want to know more about Esther and Camille, I have their information. The organization they are with and their details. I encourage you to not allow this information to flood your mind and emotions and then dismiss it as propaganda. This is real and you can do something about it. Prayer is a mighty tool--commit to pray with me. God honors the prayers of righteous men (and women!).