I want to go to Africa.
How often do we hear this in the Church? That desire to go to a far off place to share Jesus with little ones in orphanages and remote villages...it is a common and beautiful tune, but God decided it wasn't for me.
He has a pretty great sense of humor, ya know? I never truly appreciated His brilliance until recently, and now I feel compelled to share the story of how "Africa" came to me.
In July 2012 I was ready for Africa. I didn't have a grand plan to raise support, but I figured God would provide, because surly this desire I felt was His pulling me towards what He had for me there. After weeks of anxiously trying to figure out how to make this all happen I finally heard that peaceful small voice clearly say "It's not your time."
WHAT?!? It's not my time? But I'm ready. I'm passionate. I'm trusting you. How is it not my time?
Months passed and the desire to "go" faded, but I still knew that there was something for me there.
Two months ago I met Tou*. A beautiful fourteen-year-old girl from western Africa who happened to be walking in the wrong direction home, in the freezing cold, on my street, long after school dismissed for the day. Tou had been told to leave her middle school to take the city bus home, as the school was closing and she had yet to be picked up.
I was driving down the road on my way home, having taken a different route than usual; I saw her and suddenly our stories intersected.
Tou's Mom was unable to pick her up. This happens a lot due to her job, and Tou usually has to find a way home. One of five children, she lives in a three-bedroom apartment directly across from the church I am a doorholder at...what are the chances?
Over the next two months Tou and I have become best friends. I pick her up from school about once a week and we chat about the bullies on her bus, the dance recital she has coming up, boys, homework, and her dream to someday help girls from Africa moving to the U.S. feel more accepted.
Have you ever hear the saying "Do for one what you wish you could do for all?" (Andy Stanley)
Tou doesn't know that my heart has yearned to love on sweet girls in Africa for years. She doesn't know about my dreams to someday provide educations to the friends she left behind when her family moved to the States. She just knows that I'm her best friend who she can count on to be there when she needs a ride home from school.
Tou also doesn't know that I pray furiously for her and her family. She doesn't know that I have dreams of her leaving Islam to love Jesus. She doesn't know that I literally have dreams of her praising God with all she is.
God has a sense of humor, but He also always fulfills His promises to us. He knew my heart and literally placed a sweet Muslim girl from western Africa in my car one day. He grew our relationship into something beyond the reach a short-term trip could have provided.
If you have a dream inside you that you see falling through, just wait. Wait for God to show you what He means when He says "Africa," because it might come in the form of a more lasting and consistent relationship with a fourteen-year-old girl, who He dearly loves.
Painting Tou got me during her recent trip home :)
"That's probably why Jesus' disciples never said they were on a missions trip. I think they knew love already had a name and they didn't need a program or anything else to define it. We don't require an application or prerequisites. It's just about deciding to take up the offer made by a father who wants us to come." - Love Does by Bob Goff
*name has been changed to protect the identity of a minor*
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