Back to Real Life

We arrived at our home in Uganda on Thursday evening, got very little sleep due to jet lag, and then spent the day on Friday unpacking. Since one of my kids wanted to go to town to see friends and we needed some groceries, I drove to town. While I was there, a bolt loosened on the slide door of our van and I was unable to close the door. I tried to tighten it with my fingers, getting covered in grease in the process, but was unable to fix it without tools. 

Since we were going through airports for our travels, I had removed my pocket tool from my bag and could not fix this problem on my own. I called David to explain that I would be late and to figure out who to call for help. We have a friend who is an engineer who lives near the place we were stuck and figured he would have the tools and would be able to help solve this problem. He graciously came and brought the tool to fix the door.

On Saturday, David took the boys to town to play rugby and to go to a men’s Bible study. I took the girls and some friends in to town a little later to visit with friends there and do some more grocery shopping. David took our younger children home soon after lunch. I ran some more errands and then collected the people I was bringing home. As we crossed the Nile, my tire exploded and stripped itself bare. We limped across the rest of the bridge and pulled off the road. The spare had just been put on since the previous tire had many punctures and was almost completely flat. So I had to call for help again. 

Those who know me, know that I don’t love asking for help. I would much rather have changed the tire on the side of the road myself. But that was not possible, so we waited for our mechanic to send someone with a replacement tire. This time it was about an hour of being stuck on the side of the road. 

While sitting there, I had some time to reflect on how God uses these everyday struggles to grow me. First, I am learning that it is okay that I need help from others. I enjoy helping, but don’t like to need help myself.  God put us in families, churches, communities for many reasons. One reason has been to humble me and teach me that I cannot do it all on my own. I still wish I could, but I also am thankful that God has blessed us with a community here in a “foreign” country that doesn’t seem so foreign anymore. I am so thankful that there were several people who I knew I could call for help in both situations. 

Additionally, I was reminded that we make our plans, but the Lord determines our path. It was my plan to get home in time to make dinner, but as it turned out, David took care of all of that. I need to hold my plans loosely and trust God to work out the details. 

It occurs to me that both of these lessons are ultimately about trust. Do I trust that God provides for me.through community or do I think I need to be Abe to do everything on my own? Do I really trust that God’s plan for my day is better than mine? I am thankful that God continues to give me opportunities for growth, but I also wouldn’t mind a simple trip to town. So I will pack my pocket tool and take time to pray and prepare my heart for whatever He has for me tomorrow.