Floating Lanterns

I’ve been discouraged sometimes lately. Thankfully it hasn’t been everyday, but there have been days when I miss people so much, when I wish I could be there in the difficult times, and I wish I could celebrate with them in the happy times. There have been nights where I feel so tired or burnt out that I don’t see how I’ll have energy to face the morning. Times when I’ve just cried. I know I’m not the only one. But, God has been giving me energy to face new days, he has been giving me strength to keep going. He’s been giving me encouragement from His people. And this morning he gave me a renewed hope.

I was reading this morning in Acts when Paul was on trial telling about his “hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise…” So, as I noticed the word, “hope” two more times in the section I was reading, and as I prayed, God was breathing hope back into my spirit, into my heart. And the fulfilled promise Paul was talking about is Christ. On a whim, I flipped back to the Old Testament to read of a promise that has now been fulfilled in Christ. I read that to those who mourn, God will give a joyous blessing instead of mourning (Isaiah 61). Christ is giving me a joyous blessing! And that’s just one tiny verse, there are innumerable other promises that God has fulfilled in Christ! I hope to keep going back to them so that I can be reminded.

Then, to finish painting this hope onto my heart, God reminded me of an image. If you’ve seen the Disney movie, “Tangled,” you’ll remember that there was a king and a queen whose baby daughter was kidnapped and never found. Every year on the night of her birthday they would light and release lanterns that float up into the air, along with everyone in the village, hoping that somehow the lights could lead her back to them. The movie shows us the king and queen eighteen years later, preparing to release their lanterns once again. His face is the saddest, kindliest face you ever saw, and her eyes mirror his sadness when she reaches up to catch the tear slipping down his face. Then, they go together to send their lanterns into the night sky.

Slowly, brilliantly, thousands of lanterns are lit and released, floating together in the sky, defying the dark, making a golden path in the air. What an image of hope! Out of sadness, out of dark, hope can still grow and shine. This is the gift that God is giving me today, and I’m going to keep asking Him to help me hope, to help me remember how he fulfills His promises, and to remind me of the picture of golden glowing lanterns against the black night sky.

"Sometimes the Bravest Thing of All is to Hope"

January 23, 2010

If you have ever visited Rwanda, you see incredible beauty, but you’re also often struck by is the deep ocean of visible suffering. You can see people drowning in poverty, sickness, and despair and you start to feel like you’re being pulled under. Because of your nationality or skin color, you may be seen as a possible savior and you often see hands held out in hopes that you could give them something...anything.
Many Americans tend to be infected by the lies that they don’t need God, that they can do everything themselves, but many Africans believe that they can’t do anything, that they’re worthless. When you see this it’s hard to hope.

I just finished participating in a week of Discipling for Development (D4D) training. David and Debby Thomas and Brad were the teachers/facilitators and I was in a group of 15 participants including pastors from the Friends church as well as other interested leaders from various organizations and churches. I know I can’t describe the values, methodology, and teaching methods I’ve learned in one short note. (If you’re interested in hearing more about that, please let me know). What I will try to describe is some of the evidence that God is at work and that His kingdom is advancing here on earth!

We all watched a video that showed testimonies from a Friends church in the Cyangugu region. One woman who has HIV only had one set of clothing. She would walk with her head down not wanting to talk to anyone, believing she was the lowest of the low. She would go to church and try to stay in the corners. When she got connected to the Friends church and what they were doing with D4D, she got connected to Jesus Christ. Now, you should see her! Her face is joyful! She proclaims that Jesus has brought her out of the pit and raised her up. She knows she’s loved and she knows her worth in Christ. She was able to buy more clothing, she’s taking care of a pig for someone else and will get to keep its baby as payment for her care (raising livestock is a huge way that people can make money here). She has a few goats and one is expressly for her child so that he can learn to take care of it and have his own way to raise money for school, etc. There are so many ways her life has changed. When asked if she would kind of stop going to church, stop depending on Jesus now that her life is better, she emphatically says she is never, never leaving her Jesus, who has done so much for her! One man used to rent a small room and he could barely afford the five dollars a month rent. He waited and waited for an NGO (non-government organization) to come and build him a house. Now, through D4D, Jesus is transforming his mind. He found a way to build his own house with the ability to add on in the future. One woman used to be a prostitute, one man used to get drunk all the time and beat his wife. And these are just a few examples out of many. Their lives are transforming through Jesus Christ!!!

So, as I was going through the seminar this week, I realized that I was being afraid to hope. But, I have seen that God HAS transformed people’s lives, He IS transforming them, and HE WILL continue! It’s not that it’s easy for people to change. It can be a long and difficult process. If it was short and easy, it wouldn’t last. So, please pray with me and hope with me!

“Look around at the nations and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” Habakkuk 1:5