A New Stone

This is probably the best way to start a journal entry about my trip. This story is the beginning and the end of this chapter and with time I will post the in between stories. First let me start by explaining that I have always loved the story of Joshua in the Old Testament. For some reason his story just resonates with me. I found myself going back to his story in preparation for the trip. If you're familiar with Joshua you know that Moses sent Joshua, Caleb and 10 others to spy out the promised land, Canaan. This was the land the Lord had set apart for the Israelites and the place they were longing for as they wondered 40 years in the wilderness. The time was soon approaching and Moses sent the 12 to go ahead and scout out the land. When the 12 returned the other ten reported that there were giants and going into this land that God had promised was impossible...they wanted to just return to Egypt where they were captives. Ironically enough the Lord struck those 10 dead. Joshua and Caleb had a different perspective however. They saw what the other 10 saw but more importantly they saw a land flowing with milk and honey. Their focus was on a land their God had promised them and nothing would deter them from that land.

I shared with me team that I felt like we were being sent as scouts to Uganda. Geoffrey is in the process of building an orphanage and has a passion and a vision for orphan care there. The Lord just impressed on my heart that the five of us were being sent as scouts to catch a glimpse of that vision and return here to report and help gather the resources. My prayer as I challenged the team is that our perspective in coming back would be to report what God allowed us to see...not the obstacles. I know Satan would love to get a foothold and have our attitude be one of "thank God I am back in America and I could care less if I ever go back." Oh how the Lord was faithful to allow all five us to see the promises and the hope that awaits in Uganda.

Further on in the story of Joshua you'll remember that Moses never got to lead the people into the promised land...Joshua was their leader when the promise was fulfilled. As the people crossed through the Jordan River on dry land the Lord instructed Joshua to have the leader of each of the 12 tribes take a stone from the water's bed. Once they reached dry ground they were instructed to build a memorial with the 12 stones so that they would always be able to come back to this place and remember God's faithfulness. The memorial would also serve as a way of telling their children and grandchildren about this season/chapter of their lives.

Like I said...this story has always resonated with me. In 1998 I got my first tattoo and it served as one of "my stones" that I could always look at and remember how I saw experienced God's faithfulness and knew his nearness. In 2000 I got my second stone. For two years I have known I wanted a third tattoo but I didn't know where I wanted it and I didn't have an experience to connect it with. That was important to me.

As I went back and read the story of Joshua again the day before we left for Uganda I saw a part of the story I had never seen before. Just a few verses past where the 12 stones were placed by the 12 tribes it says the Joshua took another 12 stones and put them in the river. I had never noticed this part of the passage...but wow how it gripped me. You see those 12 stones were just for Joshua...no one else could see them, no one knew they were there, but they were just between him and the Lord. Not only were they for him and his God but the only time Joshua would ever see those stones again was if the Jordan River dried up...only in a drought would he see that reminder...just when he would need the reminder the most. Even as a type that my eyes are welling up with tears. For those of you who have journeyed with me for a while you know, or maybe you don't...the last four years of life have been a drought for me. I feel like I have been in the wilderness and have the bumps, bruises and scars on my spirit to show it. Everything in me was hoping that my trip to Africa was going to be the start of a chapter of restoration and joy. When I read that passage the day before I left it was as if the Lord just leaned in and whispered sweetly in my ear that the river was coming...but I've allowed you to see the stones in the drought.

From the minute my feet touched the ground in Uganda there was a mighty river. I haven't felt that alive in a long time, actually probably never. I couldn't soak in enough of hearing the Lord and seeing him at work around me. His promises and blessings were bursting at the seams for me. And here is why I adore my heavenly Father...He was faithful to daily remind me that is was ALL HIM...and not becuase I was Africa that the restoration had begun. I didn't have to return to Louisiana and dread that the wilderness was waiting because it wasn't about a place, but about God, my sustainer.Dont' get me wrong, I left a huge part of my heart in Uganda and honestly think the Lord will have me back there for an extended period of time one day...but I came home renewed, restored and soaking in the river.

So with that experience (deep breath)...I knew it was time for a new stone. I knew two years ago that I wanted the word "redeemed" but I didn't know where on my body or in what script. As we were sharing the gospel one day using the evangecube which walks through the gospel using pictures, it became quite clear where the next stone was going. There was a picture on the cube of Jesus reaching his hand out to receive you and the nail scars were still fresh and very visible on his wrist. That picture was magnified in my heart...his suffering and death are the reason, the only reason, why I am REDEEMED. What better place than on my wrist to remind me that Christ has redeemed me. Christ has redeemed my mistakes, my sin, my past, my future and the day is coming when all that is broken will be made right...REDEEMED. I finally decided to get the tattoo in Hebrew because in the Old Testament, which was originally written in Hebrew, redemption was only a promise...but the promise was fulfilled in the New Testament through Christ. I wanted a reminder that even though I am redeemed now and have been since I professed Christ as my savior...there is still a great promise of redemption coming when I don't have to thirst through a drought, walk the road alone, grow weary from working or experience heartbreak.

The thing I loved about the people of Uganda was their simplicity. Because they have so little, they have an unbelievable joy and hope when they have Christ as their Savior. I feel like they know what it means to yearn for Heaven...to yearn for what has been promised. Too often I find myself so satisfied with the things of this world that I am content to wait and wait for the Lord's return. This new "stone" is a reminder to me not only that God was and is faithful in the drought of the last four years, but there is a time coming that all things will be redeemed and I want a spirit that yearns for His return. Come Lord Jesus, Come!

So, that was quite a long post but is the reason for the new tattoo and the bookends to my first trip to Africa. A word from the Lord, his restoring touch and a way to always be reminded. Now that the bookends are in place I will begin writing the in between stories soon, there is just still so much to process.