Not many of these blog posts have much in the way of ‘profound
thoughts’ – it’s more a way of sharing glimpses of life through our
photos. However in December we had to
make a decision that deserves a bit more of a story behind it. If you want to cut a long story short, you
can just read the next few lines but the whole is there for those who are
interested!
Many of you will have heard by now that we are returning to
the UK to settle at the end of the academic year – July 2015. This was not really our plan but we trust
that it IS God’s plan for us all. After
six years of being amazingly provided for through the generosity of Christian
friends and our church families in the UK, we were faced with an account that
was in the negative and only half the support we needed for the coming academic
year. Was God going to use this opportunity
to provide miraculously and again demonstrate that we were where He wanted us
and He was the One keeping us there, or did He have other plans?
We had promised our Director, Chris, that we’d let him know
by mid-December whether we would be staying or going. Several decisions seemed to be hinging on our
availability and we knew that this was the right time to take stock and see
what God was doing.
We remembered how, when we first set off for Sudan in 2008,
the huge amount of support we needed to raise (to live in a place where the
only means of access was via light aircraft) had come in within weeks. This helped to allay this anxious mother’s
doubts about taking our two small children to such a remote corner of the
world.
We also cannot forget the amazingly God-prompted generosity
of people who have given us huge amounts of money during these three years in
Nairobi – making life in an expensive city, with even more expensive international
schools, possible.
We have felt like Elijah (in 1 Kings 17) who was sent to
live by the brook at Kerith and miraculously fed by the ravens during a time of
drought. God’s provision for us happened
even when the UK’s economic climate had hit a low and people were having to
tighten their financial belts.
This is why, when even after much prayer and letting our
needs be known, the brook was running dry, we trusted that this was also God’s
leading for us. It wasn’t supernatural
that Elijah’s brook stopped flowing, “some
time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land” (v7),
but it was part of God’s plan for
Elijah. “Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘Go at once to Zarephath of
Sidon and stay there.’” (v8-9).
Ours is not a ‘go at once’ – we feel it is right to stay
until the end of this academic year.
This is partly to give our children an easier transition, at a natural
point in their schooling (Caleb will be starting secondary school in Sept 2015). But it is also because it’s very hard to leave
our team. We are engaged in a work that
we fully believe in; we love our teammates (most of the time!); we know that we’re
all needing a bit of stability after a turbulent year; and we know that there
aren’t others lining up to pick up our workload.
Growing up at Burrswood (www.burrswood.org)
I, Deborah, have seen my family live by the motto, “Where God guides, He provides”. Having taken this heart-wrenching decision,
we have seen God’s provision released once again in our lives. The money to stay for these last 6 months has
come in, again in very moving ways (and mostly in one-off donations rather than
increased monthly support which for us confirms that it’s God providing for
this last stretch rather than asking us to do another lap). We have a home to return to in Cambridge and
family and friends there who we know will help us navigate this difficult transition
back to UK life. We don’t yet have jobs
or school places but we are being kept in God’s peace about those.
We want to testify to God’s goodness in this and in every
twist and turn of life’s journey – however painful they may be. We don’t know what lies around the next
corner but we know Jesus will be with us – and that’s all that matters. We’ll end with this verse given to us by our
teammate Vicki which spoke to our hearts:
“He led them by a
straight way to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his
wonderful deeds for me, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with
good things” (Ps 107:7-9)
Some snapshots of just a few of our joys along the way...
Jan 2009 - Heathrow airport, armed with teddies and rucksacks (soon to be renamed backpacks once we'd learned American!)
April 2009 - settling into Doro life nicely
Making friends in Doro
Cuddling up in the kitchen - it's even cold sometimes in Sudan!
The water team celebrate success!
Jan 2012 - moving into our new home in Nairobi
The awesome Personnel team!
Our good friend since our arrival, Dau Matthew
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