TIA

Where do I begin. You know that you are in Pemba when you are standing quietly in a crowd, minding your own business, when a baby on the back of the woman in front of you pees on your foot. When your skin lightens a whole shade after a shower. When on the sixth day of no showering they announce we don’t have any water so continue using your baby wipes for four or five more days. Or when you are so excited that the roll you got for breakfast only has a few ants crawling on it instead of the whole ant family. HAHA Life here is just a little bit different, but I love every second of it!!

The Lord is definitely filling me with something new every session. On Monday, we were asked what our Isaacs are. I told the Lord that I was offering my entire self to Him, that I wanted to go wherever He willed me to go. He is all that I am longing for. He is all that I have ever wanted. He is everything and more that my heart is hoping for. Last night, we paired up and prayed together and prophesied over each other. The lord gave my friend a vision of a deep well that reaches to the core of the earth. It was at this well that she saw me standing turning the crank over and over and over and over, but the bucket was not coming as quickly as I wanted. I feel like this depicts where I am perfectly. With every turn of the crank God is teaching me something new about myself, His love for me, who He made me to be, and more. I can’t just go to the well and snap my fingers and have the sweetest water. It takes God’s touch and Him and I together will pull the bucket of the sweetest water to put to our lips. He is not in a hurry to transform me. It has been such a sweet intimate time allowing Him to romance my heart as He takes me deeper into His heart. I pray that He continues to take me deeper and deeper.

The very first day here I was at the toddler house and this little boy named Midu caught my eye. I went over to him and picked him up and kissed his cheek. He was a chunky little boy who acted like an old grumpy man. He wouldn’t smile, laugh, or even look into your eyes. He just sat by himself slouched over watching the other kids. I asked his Mama Tia what his story was and she said that he was two and half years old and that they had gotten him a few weeks prior. He looks like he is 8 or 9 months old, but because he was so malnourished he wasn’t growing. Since that day, I have gone to see him as much as I can. I hold him, kiss him, spin him around, sing to him, play games with him, yet he still seems so unhappy. I have been praying for God to fill him with HIS joy and love. I have seen small changes in him, like a smile here and there, but nothing to radical until yesterday. I went up to the toddler house for my normal check in and Midu was standing up walking around and SMILING! I picked him up and twirled him around and he LAUGHED. Then, we sat down and I sang “Our God is an Awesome God,” to him and he tried to sing with me. I just squeezed him tightly and praised God that He was beginning to melt his little heart. God knows the hearts of His children, He just asks us to love and trust that He knows what He is doing.

I love and miss you guys! Thank you for reading and praying. I am going on outreach this weekend. Please be praying as we prepare emotionally and physically to go.

John 14:18