Storms of Life...

Recently we have had actual storms, as well as figurative storms. Im sure by now many of you have heard about our dealings with the LRA over the last few days. I will update all of you on what I know, which isnt much :) It started on Friday night that there were some killings close by, a little too close for comfort for many of the villagers. We did not hear about this until Saturday morning. Mirjam and I went into town Saturday morning to take care of some business, and on our way home riding boda bodas we watched as hundreds of people were walking with all of their worldly goods on their heads towards town. We though, "um, maybe we are going the wrong way." But we got back to Harvesters and heard about the fear and panic of the people. All those people were leaving their homes and going in to town to be safer. They were coming from about a 10 mile radius. Can you imagine!? Hundreds of people suddenly show up in town needing some place to stay. I think that may be the worst part of what the LRA do. By putting fear into the people's hearts they undermine their faith, displacing them and making life that much more difficult in an already difficult life. Now every night since then we have had some drama or other reguarding the LRA. One night it was a young mentally handicapped boy found wandering the compound after we had heard the LRA were using these individuals as spys to go into a place and check out their security. It sounds far fetched, but I wouldnt put it past them. So, naturally, we became concerned and called one of the chiefs from a surrounding village and he came and recognized the boy. Praise God. I cannot stand the thought of anything happening to these children. I cannot say that I was not afraid, but my heart was at peace. I know God has His hand of protection on this place. The first night this happened I was privelaged to go around to each dorm and sit and pray with the children. In each dorm we all sat in a circle and talked about our fears and how they affected us at that time. Then we prayed and it was amazing how the kids opened up. I was especially amazed by some of the older boys, the way they freely talked of their fears and concerns. God is so good and He put a peace in all of us that night. So, now life is slowly getting back to normal. The people are returning to their villages slowly and we just go on with every day life. Yesterday was Monday and in our clinic that usually means we are really busy. But yesterday, we were so slow it felt like a Wed or Thursday when we have time to clean and organize the whole clinic. It really hit home how the fear had effected the community.
As for actual storms, last night I felt like I was home in Nebraska. We had a storm come through that blew down large trees and branches, carried a chair all accross the compound and lashed rain from all sides. Funny thing is we have been praying for rain for the last few days because it has been so incredibly hot and humid here, almost unbearable. Every day I peel my clothes off to jump in the shower, so saturated in sweat that its a chore just to do that. So this storm last night, although a big one, was quite welcome. I guess that is how God works. He may bring a big storm to our lives, but He always makes something good come of it, whether through strenghtening our character or giving us nice cool breezes to call our own. So I praise God in these storms, trusting completely that He has the master plan and knows where these storms will take us.