For me, Africa is easy. When people are hungry, it’s easy to get them to eat. Then I come home. I come home to the U.S., to Teen Challenge, to friends and family and life. It can be tiring spending your life in an effort to give the love of God to people who, by all appearances, don’t want it. We have a lot of those moments at Teen Challenge. And in those moments, I sometimes think it would be easier to just go back to Africa. To stay there, to give my life to people who recognize their need and want my help. In those moments, I just want those Swazi girls and boys to climb back up on my hips, to grab my hands and sing to me again... "Jesus loves me this I know...Jesus is so wonderful..." In those moments, I begin to understand a little more of what Jesus meant when He asked us to take up our cross and follow Him.
Jesus was never shy about counting the cost. He said it and He showed it - loving others hurts. The work of love can be hard and tiring. It can be painful, and it will cost us greatly. But in Africa, with children singing to me about the love of God, I was challenged to love again…and to keep loving. I was reminded to never let my love grow cold, but to stay on the cross with Christ and let His work be completed in me.
So today, I’m back in Indiana at the TC house with 20 teenage girls, and honestly...I'm tired. Here at TC, they’re not quite as cute as those sweet little African children, but they are loved. Beneath the tough exteriors and all of the make-up and masks, are little girls inside wanting someone to sing to them that Jesus is wonderful, and yes, He does still love them, too. Though many in our lives have yet to admit it, they are hungry. When Jesus said, “I was hungry and you came to me…” He never specified where. Our ministry to Christ may be loving on a child in Africa, counseling a teenager in rehab, taking care of an ailing grandparent, showing kindness to a co-worker, or just taking time to have dinner with your family.
So under the weight of our cross, let us not grow so weary that we forget to sing and to live, that “Jesus loves me this I know…Jesus, He’s so wonderful.”
Jesus was never shy about counting the cost. He said it and He showed it - loving others hurts. The work of love can be hard and tiring. It can be painful, and it will cost us greatly. But in Africa, with children singing to me about the love of God, I was challenged to love again…and to keep loving. I was reminded to never let my love grow cold, but to stay on the cross with Christ and let His work be completed in me.
So today, I’m back in Indiana at the TC house with 20 teenage girls, and honestly...I'm tired. Here at TC, they’re not quite as cute as those sweet little African children, but they are loved. Beneath the tough exteriors and all of the make-up and masks, are little girls inside wanting someone to sing to them that Jesus is wonderful, and yes, He does still love them, too. Though many in our lives have yet to admit it, they are hungry. When Jesus said, “I was hungry and you came to me…” He never specified where. Our ministry to Christ may be loving on a child in Africa, counseling a teenager in rehab, taking care of an ailing grandparent, showing kindness to a co-worker, or just taking time to have dinner with your family.
So under the weight of our cross, let us not grow so weary that we forget to sing and to live, that “Jesus loves me this I know…Jesus, He’s so wonderful.”
I always love reading your blogs Tara. :) To know that Jesus is always at work in our hearts.
ReplyDeleteLove you.
Sorry for the delay, but I finally got here. Love your heart, sis. I am learning more and more what God's love really means. I have taken it for granted so long, the phrase itself becoming cliche... but relearning it, straight from Abba has been beautiful. Keep growing in the richness and bounty of Daddy's love...
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