The rest of the story...

Hello?! Ok, I left some of you hanging there didn't I? Oops! Life happened and blogging didn't. My life has been planned out until today and now that I have nothing else to do, I can blog. Haha, just kidding. And what I mean by that comment is great friends of ours just moved today. So we've spent as much time with them and had lots of parties. They left Kitale this morning and are on their way to move to South Africa. I am so freaking excited for what God is going to do through them and lead them into but selfishly I'm SO SAD! People come and go so often here. You make deep friendships and they go. Of course we'll always be connected. (And I can dream of us all living in the same place again! :) ) Whew, what a relief that Jesus never moves away. I'll have to write another post with our fun times this past week and many pictures from it. But I must get to the horrible and great news!

I've got a lot of dreams. Like, a lot. I've talked on here before about that whole spirit of adoption that we have in Jesus (if you need a scripture reference, it's Romans 8:15). One of my most favorite people to listen to or read about is Heidi Baker. I'm sure you've heard me talk about her too. She'll ask, what do you want? Just feel God ask, what do you want? Those that don't understand fully their son-ship usually don't know how to answer or they give answers like "um, just some crumbs from your table Lord" "I'm just a servant". But those that know they are sons and daughters, dream big. Cause my Daddy has no limits!

So one of those dreams of mine was to move to Africa. And I did.

Then it was to bring home children that were once orphaned, and give them a home and tell them the GOOD news of Jesus. And we are.

Then God once told me my dreams were still too small, so I asked for thousands. They will come.

And then one day I dream of going to Congo. This has been my dream since I was 16 years old. I want to go and LOVE on the mama's and babies. No other agenda. It's been tucked away for awhile, not sure when it'll happen. But here's some really, really, really horrible news I came across last week...

CLICK HERE to read the horrible stuff, (if you are a kid you shouldn't)

It lets us know horrible stuff, like that Congo is now the rape capital of the world. Excuse me while I go vomit at that thought.

OK, I'm back.

This article is mostly about a woman named Clementine. It's so heartbreaking and I cried through the entire story. It's about choices she was given by the rebel groups. I wont go into detail since the ages that read this might be young. But one choice would have resulted in her husband dying and the other, which she chose, resulted in her husband rejecting her forever. She has eight children. It talks of other women with similar stories.

And at the end of the story the reporter says: Clementine speaks for them all when she says:

"I cannot forgive these rapists because they destroyed my life. Sometimes I feel like I don't have a desire to live on this Earth."

Now that is some bad news. And what a horrible way to end that story. It's hopeless. And Jesus is not part of it.

So I had a chat with God and how I hate hearing these stories and not being able to give HIS hope and HIS love to the situation so that women like Clementine don't have to feel like that don't want to live. John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that they would have life, and have it abundantly" 2 Cor 5:17 "if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation, the old is gone, the new has come". If you are born again in Jesus, you feel like living and not dying. And not just staying alive, but living abundantly with the FULLness of Christ within you.

So Daddy God was so sweet to assure me those dreams will come true but I am here in Kenya where there is similar situations. It might not look as bad, but it is. And here's some really really good news.

The day after reading all this, we get a committal order from the children's court for a new child. And guess what her name is?!?!?!?!?!? CLEMENTINE! And her story is somewhat the same. Her step father is now in prison for life because of what he did to her. But she is now home safe!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Anyone out there want to scream with joy with me!? Justice showed up, Jesus rescued her, and now she is HOME. WHOOOOOOA!

We went to pick her up at a rescue center. She was staying there temporarily until the court order was given. We had already gone to visit once and when we did she was in rags and not smiling. We let her know who we are and gave her hope of what kind of children's home we have and what all would be provided for her. She smiled some and said she wanted to come. We said we'd be back. So the day came, we went and got her. This was on Friday. It was the BEST day of my life. We drove up and saw her from a distance. She noticed we had pulled up, she threw her plate from lunch and ran with much excitement to go get her things. She gladly said goodbye and off we went. She wasn't shy at all, she just sat quietly with a reserved smile. We took her to town. I held her hand to go and buy some clothes and stuff. She would just smile and cling on.

We took her to Mattaw and said welcome home to her. She said she was very happy. I showed her her new room and where her bed would be. Then she changed into new clothes and came out beaming with joy. Humphrey and I took her to explain some stuff to her. First off I shared the LOOOOVE of Jesus. And just smeared it all over her with scriptures and hugs. She knew who Jesus was, she was raised catholic, but she started to really know who Jesus is. Not the religious Jesus with a bunch of rules but the Jesus who saved her, loves her, and now lives inside of her. She was joyful. She shared her story with us. Broke my heart. She is from Uganda. Her and her mom traveled here a few years ago and had no money for transport back. They left behind all their family including her two older sisters. Then one morning this year she woke up to her mom telling her bye, that she was going to Bungoma. (closer to the border of Uganda) And she hasn't seen her since. Because of her mom's horrible decision, horrible stuff happened. I just wept with her and we prayed. I saw her innocence though and how God has protected her. She is very strong and open to love. We then took her to introduce the children to her. The other children all came home from school and we all sat together for family chat. I asked if they were excited to get a new sister, they all yelled "YES!". They all argued of which house she would stay in. I looked at Clementine and she just smiled. Then I shared again and again how much they are all loved and children of God, with a new inheritance. Orphans have no inheritance. Children of God have a HUGE unlimited inheritance. We prayed over all the children for them to really receive and know this truth.

Apart form Jesus, Clementine would also rather just not live and not forgive. But with Jesus on the scene, she is now a new creation. I believe that when Jesus invades the life of a person, they are made whole, made new, and don't need a process to get to the place of living fully in Jesus. It can happen immediately. (now if you think it's a process, like I have thought many times, then it becomes a process and God meets us where we are and is patient in our thinking and getting over ourselves) That's what I had faith to believe and taught her. And that's what happened.

Yesterday we ran out to check on the kids. Clementine RAN up to me and I got the biggest hug. I looked into her eyes to ask how she was and how she is sleeping. Her eyes are so FULL of love now. She said how happy and good she is and slept really good. She has hope, she has life. I then later saw her and one of our girls, Mercy, run off together giggling with their arms around each other. Now THAT is my Daddy at work! From ashes to beauty. From despair to hope. From death to life.

And that is the GOOD news of the gospel of Jesus. The moment we receive Jesus, we are born again, we are NEW creations! See, I just got more of a revelation of what the GOOD news gospel of Jesus really is. Sometimes we think we have to go through a process to get to a good place with Jesus. Oh no. It can happen immediately. We can be healed, delivered, FULL of life, love, joyful always, receive peace, FULL of Holy Spirit, Jesus and God. The problem is really believing this. We have to make up excuses of why our sinful nature is not dead because of lack of belief. I was challenged. DO I believe who God says he is and what he has done? Do I believe that when Jesus said "it is finished" on the cross that he meant it? Our new life in Christ was REPLACED with the old life. It was NOT added to the old life. We're NEW! The word new is Kainos. It means superior to what was before, in contrast to what was before. It is in reference to the new convenant that Jesus provided, not the old covenant. So I read it again 2 Cor 5:17 "if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation, the old is gone, the new has come". The word kainos in the greek is the word here in this verse. I'm totally whacked by this and there's so much more. It's simple. Our battle is in our mind. If we can just get past formulas, boxes, religion. OHHH, how much fullness of life there is in Jesus. This is what I'm teaching our kids and staff right now. And it's FUN!

Mary Clementine