Electricity

While I was in America for the month of January, most of my family was here in Uganda. For all but one week of that time, there was no outside electricity. (GSF has a generator that they run for a few hours at a time.) Some men had been cutting the power lines in order to steal the wire. They have been caught and just a few days after my return to Uganda the electricity was restored! 

For the past week we have had fairly consistent electricity. It has only been out for a few hours a couple of different times. One night, however, the power flickered several times, and then went out until sometime the next day. The kids were already in bed, so it was not too much of an inconvenience. Because it was a cooler night, the fan did not feel as much like a necessity. When the children woke the next morning, they knew they couldn't watch a video; instead I found my older two reading by flashlight.

 I decided that I would try to view this lack of electricity as a blessing rather than a frustration. We ate breakfast by candlelight and it was a very pleasant morning, other than the fact that I had not showered and did not want to have a cold one. Here is our breakfast table!

One of my thoughtful friends from the US asked me what was the thing that is the hardest about not having electricity here. There are many things that are harder to do without electricity, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that a large part of the struggle has to do with this expectation that I deserve electricity. Growing up in the United States with electricity everyday of my life, I had no idea that many people all over the world do not have electricity. Many of the places where electricity is available, it is not consistent or reliable. I am learning to see electricity as a blessing when we do have it rather than as a "right." 

I wrote a previous post entitled "Light" in which I talked a bit about the challenges of walking around in the dark. But there are also emotional challenges to being in the darkness. Not just fear, but it is much easier to be discouraged or depressed when you are sitting in the dark. When I was a teenager struggling with depression, I would sit in my bedroom with the lights out. God graciously brought me out of that time of darkness, spiritually, emotionally and physically. I have found that when my physical surroundings are dark, I need to be intentional to remember the light of God's Word, reading and reciting His truth. I need to preach the gospel to myself, remembering that whether or not I have electricity, I have something much greater, the Light of Christ! But I am also thankful that the power is back on, at least for now...

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1