The days were long but the weeks and months flew by! God blew us away our first year serving at The Esther School. Lot of adventures, hardships, joys, and tears.
I have thought about writing this post so many times. I thought about it when we were first moved to Zambia and it felt like every time we turned around we were chasing a mouse out of our house. Analeigh hated the mice so much that she wouldn’t use her closet. The whole year she didn’t use her closet. We ended up buying plastic bins that she put her clothes in so she wouldn’t have to reach into her closet to grab a shirt and a mouse scurry by.
I thought about it again when the green mamba slithered up onto our porch and I trailed behind my sweet friend as she went after it with a stick and a washing tub (maybe a sword and shield?)
Then when it seemed like the mice headed back outside to play and the snakes seemed to leave us alone (for a bit) came the flying termites. Walking to and from school it felt like we were trying to even keep them out of our eyelashes.
Mice, snakes, and flying termites were an adjustment but then came the heat. Oh my goodness– the heat. There were days it felt so hot that you didn’t even feel like you could take a deep breath. During our Christmas holiday the thermometer one day read 117. Yes, you read that right, 117 degrees!
Then we had some moments of reprieve when the rains came. However with the rain came the instant worry of how to keep the rain from flooding into our houses. We found some creative solutions. (Umbrella above the toilet)
The rain came and went but the heat stilled stayed on with a vengeance. As if heat isn’t bad enough then came heat mixed with flies. Flies buzzing all around. Flies in your hair. Flies in your face. Flies all over our shirts. I felt like a cow constantly swatting at the flies.
The flies seemed to calm down and then one day it seemed like the heat just let up. One morning I went to run and realized I needed a light jacket. I actually felt the slight sensation of a chill.
Raging heat gone and enjoying my sweatshirt one morning I looked down saw we were repeating the cycle….a mouse scurried under my closet.
I was on a call with a friend and I remarked that I felt like living here had its seasons of its own mini-plagues. Mice then snakes then termites then heat then rains then more heat then flies then a sweet moment of wearing sweatshirt only to start over again with the mice. She asked me if all of things made me want to leave and I remarked to her that I knew I could endure all of these things because this wasn’t our forever home this was just a season. God had called us to serve at The Esther School for a season.
In that moment it struck me. What did I mean that Zambia wasn’t my forever home? Didn’t we move to Zambia? Didn’t we sell our house and cars and pack up our kids and say our tearful goodbyes? This wasn’t our forever home, what?
What I meant was that I always felt like I had an out. We were in Zambia serving by choice. It wasn’t our forever home. We weren’t going to live with mice, snakes, termites, heat, rains, and flies forever. We weren’t going to have to sleep under bed tents, live off solar power, and be away from family and friends forever. We expected life to be hard. We expected the scary snakes and the raging heat. We expected to have water problems and malaria tests. We expected to have the trials and struggles and I could do it because I knew this wasn’t forever.
I knew at home we had running water, electricity, and A/C! I knew that at home we had drive-thru restaurants and Walmart. I didn’t feel the despair of what was before me because I always had the anchor of the promise of what was at home.
What was at home….
“I go to prepare a place for you….”
Wait a minute…if my mind tells me that I can live this life in Zambia because of the promise of what is at home isn’t that the very same truth of living life here on earth because of the promise of what is at home in Heaven? In that moment it was if something just made sense to me. This is how it is suppose to feel. I am suppose to feel free to serve, love, live, cry, give, swat flies and scream at a mouse because this is not my forever home.
We have served in Africa for 3 years now. There have been many times that I have felt separated. We have missed Christmas, birthdays, little life events, and felt separated. Even that though brings me to the realization that because of what Jesus did on the cross we will live in eternity not separated! We will have eternity with Him!
I could go on and on sharing how God has revealed so much to me throughout our season of serving in Africa. He constantly shows Himself to us and reminds us of who He is.
We are back in the US for the summer and today someone asked me, “Are you guys going back to Africa?” My instant thought was, “Of course we are going back. Zambia is our home.”
Our hearts can fall in love with wherever God leads us and for a season Zambia is our home. Mice, snakes, flying termites, rain and heat are for a season—I am thankful for the promise of eternity and for the anchor of my FOREVER home with Him!