On the plane I read this amazing book by Charles Martin called Wrapped in Rain. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a good read! There was a quote in there that stuck with me and made me relate to what I am going to be doing for the next four months in Swaziland...

"Life is a battle, but you can't fight it with your fists. You've got to fight it with your heart. And if your knuckles are bloodier than your knees, then you are fighting the wrong battle."

I think that so many times I try to do things on my own, when this makes me realize that everything I am doing in Swaziland has to start and end with God. There is nothing here that I am able to accomplish with my own strength, and it is not going to be me who changes people's hearts. God will take care of it for me. The best way for me to reach these people ultimately starts with my heart and praying for the people I come in contact with. God will give me the words to say and the time to say them...but it is going to be His strength and grace that I will need for the moment.

This quote also makes me think of the hearts of the people that I have been praying for in Kenya, and even though I cannot be there right now, I can fight for them on my knees and bring them before God. He has a plan and a purpose that will be revealed in time, and though the situation there is awful now, God will in His time rebuild a stronger and more faithful Kenya.

One of the leaders here was talking to us about Swaziland and the fact that by 2050, the country is supposed to be extinct. She said that many of the people we encounter will be dead in our lifetime. But she also said that the ministry we are doing will hopefully raise up the children who will carry on. That Swaziland has not seen the worst of their trouble with the AIDS epidemic, but that God will raise up a nation that is faithful to Him through the younger generation if we can preach and live out the Gospel with them.

Please be in prayer with me for the people we will minister to and the lives that God allows us to touch.

Again I am brought to the verse Ephesians 3:20 "To HIM who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine, to Him be the glory!"

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