THANKFUL THURSDAY

Often since my trip back to Swaziland five years ago, I have felt out of step with this American culture. I miss Africa and find myself feeling all sorts of muddled up emotions. I have cried about things that would have barely registered on my radar and sacrificed for people and causes I didn't even know existed six or seven years ago. I have many times felt like an alien in my own country.

Tonight, we spent the evening with Jim's sister and her family. Deidra and her husband Michael have also ministered in Africa. They have also found their lives radically changed by God as a result. There is a wrecking that can go on as a product of mission trips that is almost impossible to understand if you've not experienced it yourself.

I am not glad that others experience the pain that can occur when God rips open hearts on behalf of the lost and the least, but I am thankful that not only can we now walk through this journey together, but that God is turning the hearts of more and more of His children toward the orphans and widows of Africa.