Shifting

“Shifting” is the Ugandan term for moving or changing residence.  This last week I (Kendra) had the opportunity to help one of our Ugandan friends “shift.”  We have known Evelyn for only a few months.  She comes to our house a few days a week to help me with washing clothes and other things.  She is not only a big help to me with work around the house, but I enjoy being able to build a relationship with her as we work together.  Last week we found out that she was needing to move out of the house she had been staying in because the owner wanted to use it.  She had been staying near the local fishing village, Nalamuli, but after a bit of prying she confessed that she did not feel safe staying there.  Most of the people that live there are not believers and enjoy drinking and fighting, so it is not the best place for a young single lady to be living.  We spent several hours one day and again the next day figuring out a place for her to rent in Gaba, another village that is much cleaner and seems to be much quieter and safer.  She was excited to be in a better place and we were so glad to be able to help her.  

This is just one example of the ways that we try to build relationships with the people around us and how God uses these relationships to give us opportunity to share Him with others and to learn more about Him ourselves.  There were so many times in the process that my first reaction was to just give her some money and tell her to find a new place.  However, in talking with her and seeing her hesitations, I kept feeling the Spirit leading me to just be with her, to go through the process with her.  And it was quite a process, since it involved talking to a lot of different people and going to several different places.  Of course, since we are in Uganda, asking for a place to rent does not just mean finding the right person and asking how much it is.  With every person you meet, you have to greet the person first and talk about the weather and other things, and then it’s ok to talk about the real point of your conversation.  My American-hurry-up-nature definitely had to take a back seat.  It was uncomfortable in many ways, but looking back, our relationship with Evelyn deepened because we took time to enter into her situation and go through it with her.  Isn’t this one of the amazing things about what Christ has done for us?  He is Emmanuel, God with us.  John asked me today as we were reading the Bible, “Mommy, why didn’t Jesus just come down and die right away?”  Oh the beauty of Jesus as Emmanuel!  He understands our struggles, hurts, joys, triumphs, failures, and pains because He has been there Himself.  He has lived them.  And that’s what He calls us to do with each other.  That’s relationship - being with people in their struggles, hurts, joys, triumphs, failures, and pains, not just so we can understand them better but so we can better point them to our Heavenly Father.