Have you ever felt like you just can't get ahead? Have you ever felt like, really, another thing goes seemingly wrong? I know I have, and I also know I am not alone. I KNOW I felt like this a lot over the last decade, and that feeling continues even now.
I got back from Masaka about 3 weeks or so ago, and have been recovering from a cold that I developed on my arrival back since then. It is even going in the "wrong" direction from the usual path, but I am sure it will eventually go away. Along with a cold, and trying to get back into a routine here in Kampala, my computer has also decided to die.....apparently the motherboard or the processor or something....something BIG anyway, and not so easily replaced. SO, I am now getting help to buy a new computer. So much for spending the money to get what I THOUGHT would be big enough and be sturdy enough to last my entire first term or two.
SO, how do I try to get my head in a better place? I have done it before by serving others. Today I am going to try something that I know many people already do, and I do as well, I just have not done so on HERE...list things I am grateful for.
I am grateful for a laptop to borrow so I can try and post a long-overdue blog, but afraid it will have to be without pictures for now....computer is dead, remember...LOL (as I just went to pull a picture and suddenly remembered this laptop is not mine). I am also VERY grateful for being introduced to a man of integrity who also has a masters in IT stuff, so at least I have someone helping me through this process.
I am grateful for life....as in just 12 days I celebrate another birthday...a kind of "milestone"-ish one....45!!! I don't feel that old, but it is true. I am grateful for each year, each week, each day....some more than others, but even in hard times of the past, I can see HIS hand, and so yes, I am grateful even for those hard days.
I am also grateful for people I don't even know that well from my church in AZ who are willing to not only reach out to see if there is something I need brought from "home", but then bring something as "non-essential" as wind chimes....something that was stolen from my container, but something to make here feel a little more like home.
I am grateful for friends who loan me a guitar, and for the ability to start working towards a LONG held dream...learning to play one. I have wanted to learn for a long time....just to sing worship music. Kampala Singers are on break until August, but I found the creative outlet to be so helpful, I decided to check into lessons. I started last week, and yes, my fingers are sore, but I am slowly getting better at transitioning between the three cords needed to play Amazing Grace.
I am grateful for a wonderful trip to Masaka....I will have to do another whole post on that some other time. BUT, I am grateful for the relationships that started there. I am grateful for the things I truly believe GOD was waiting to surprise me with....just for my time there. Pieces of a puzzle that I had no idea were even in process. HE has been and continues to work to prepare HIS ministry HE is calling me to....and continues to prepare me as well.
I am grateful for technology that allows me to talk and SKYPE with friends and family around the world...even if it is also the source of frustration at times.
I have MANY things to be grateful for...so I will stop typing them for now, but will ponder them and remember them, at least I hope I will.
AND, because I had such a great trip to Masaka that was so full of potential and encouragement...I guess in some ways I am not so surprised to come home to discouraging things happening. This is more than a physical life we are battling and journeying in; it is a spiritual one. So I expect to have times that attempt to discourage me after such an amazing time of encouragement. THAT is the cycle I have come to recognize and expect.
I will keep pushing forward, keep studying, keep trying, keep reaching out, keep thanking my supporters, keep NOT giving up.
That is all I know to do anymore....so that is what I will keep doing.
