today i was woken up by a text from my amazing friend kim asking me to check our her blog today- because it was about me . this woman who is practically a celeb- literally on CNN weekly, an incredible doctor- a superb award nominated doctor blogger- and a beautiful soulful friend- felt a stirring in her heart to write about me and my family and our move to uganda. wow. i mean- wow.
this left me feeling so humbled and so blessed. it also made me take pause and reflect on the past several months of our life in transition- in preparation- and again, i felt humbled and blessed.
let's back up a little.
last spring, when we decided to take the plunge and seriously consider moving our family to africa, there was a lot of excitement and a lot of logistics to figure out and a lot of peoples feelings to consider and a lot more logistics to figure out. we pretty quickly figured out the 'what' we'd be doing, and the 'where' we'd be doing it, and the 'why' we'd known for a while. the 'when' became as soon as possible, but the 'how' was a big question mark.
because we are professionals, we knew we had options. for example- we could move to uganda as a physician and architect with an ngo/ or the with the cdc- or on a fullbright- to do full time doctor/ architect/ research work. but that didn't feel right- because we're not moving to uganda just because we think it would be cool to live in uganda. we're moving to uganda because we believe that we should be giving to this country- that we should teach what we've been privileged to have been taught- that we should be less concerned with our comfort and our salary and more concerned with helping raise up this country- to give the little that we can- to bring change- to embrace education as the tool to bring this change- and to practice it with love and justice. we decided to listen to the stirrings of our hearts. and we decided that we need to be dependent ourselves in order to really serve the people of uganda. that we need to live in a way that kept our focus on being right where we are- in the moment- that we need to live in a way that requires us to know what dependence feels like- to lean on others, to lean on God. we decided to do this by going through a missions agency- where we are required to raise our support to live. that's right. we have to ask other people to believe in what we're doing and then to give us money in order for us to do it. let me say- this is hard to do! and yet- like most things that are hard- i've been blown away by what i've seen and heard and learned in the process.
the other day, i was googling 'be still and know' and i came to a sight focusing on teaching hebrew to christians and it had a meditation on psalm 46:10 "be still and know that i am God". it said the hebrew words for 'be still' are translated as ' be weak, let go, release', stressing the importance of surrendering and leaning on God- on trust- on dependence. and this spoke to me about the 'how' of what we are doing.
by depending on others for our basic needs to be met- we are being weak- we are forced to let go- to release- to lean on God. and as we've begun this process- hard as it's been- we've been amazed. people have literally come out of the woodwork and given generously- people who we've asked and people who we've not asked- but who've responded to the stirrings of their heart.
this state of dependence has changed me already. i have opened up more- i have begun listening more acutely to the stirrings of my heart- perhaps more importantly- i have begun responding to the stirrings. the little things. emailing someone who is on my heart. calling someone i'm thinking about. being thankful. saying a quick prayer. writing a note. as i've begun to depend on other people for my future- it's freed me to become more relational- to make more time for other people, to think of other peoples needs as more important than mine. i don't fully get it- but, i'm seeing the world as bigger and smaller all at once. i'm recognizing how much we do need each other and how much we can give each other.
so kim- thank you for responding to your stirrings. thank you for giving your words and your support and your encouragement- thank you for sharing in this- for believing in us- for sending us. what if we all did this? what if every time we thought of someone- we let them know it. what if ever time we had that urge to let the car in front turn we did it, what if we called more, wrote more, gave more, hugged more, said 'thank you' more-- i think this crazy spinning world would be even better.
this left me feeling so humbled and so blessed. it also made me take pause and reflect on the past several months of our life in transition- in preparation- and again, i felt humbled and blessed.
let's back up a little.
last spring, when we decided to take the plunge and seriously consider moving our family to africa, there was a lot of excitement and a lot of logistics to figure out and a lot of peoples feelings to consider and a lot more logistics to figure out. we pretty quickly figured out the 'what' we'd be doing, and the 'where' we'd be doing it, and the 'why' we'd known for a while. the 'when' became as soon as possible, but the 'how' was a big question mark.
because we are professionals, we knew we had options. for example- we could move to uganda as a physician and architect with an ngo/ or the with the cdc- or on a fullbright- to do full time doctor/ architect/ research work. but that didn't feel right- because we're not moving to uganda just because we think it would be cool to live in uganda. we're moving to uganda because we believe that we should be giving to this country- that we should teach what we've been privileged to have been taught- that we should be less concerned with our comfort and our salary and more concerned with helping raise up this country- to give the little that we can- to bring change- to embrace education as the tool to bring this change- and to practice it with love and justice. we decided to listen to the stirrings of our hearts. and we decided that we need to be dependent ourselves in order to really serve the people of uganda. that we need to live in a way that kept our focus on being right where we are- in the moment- that we need to live in a way that requires us to know what dependence feels like- to lean on others, to lean on God. we decided to do this by going through a missions agency- where we are required to raise our support to live. that's right. we have to ask other people to believe in what we're doing and then to give us money in order for us to do it. let me say- this is hard to do! and yet- like most things that are hard- i've been blown away by what i've seen and heard and learned in the process.
the other day, i was googling 'be still and know' and i came to a sight focusing on teaching hebrew to christians and it had a meditation on psalm 46:10 "be still and know that i am God". it said the hebrew words for 'be still' are translated as ' be weak, let go, release', stressing the importance of surrendering and leaning on God- on trust- on dependence. and this spoke to me about the 'how' of what we are doing.
by depending on others for our basic needs to be met- we are being weak- we are forced to let go- to release- to lean on God. and as we've begun this process- hard as it's been- we've been amazed. people have literally come out of the woodwork and given generously- people who we've asked and people who we've not asked- but who've responded to the stirrings of their heart.
this state of dependence has changed me already. i have opened up more- i have begun listening more acutely to the stirrings of my heart- perhaps more importantly- i have begun responding to the stirrings. the little things. emailing someone who is on my heart. calling someone i'm thinking about. being thankful. saying a quick prayer. writing a note. as i've begun to depend on other people for my future- it's freed me to become more relational- to make more time for other people, to think of other peoples needs as more important than mine. i don't fully get it- but, i'm seeing the world as bigger and smaller all at once. i'm recognizing how much we do need each other and how much we can give each other.
so kim- thank you for responding to your stirrings. thank you for giving your words and your support and your encouragement- thank you for sharing in this- for believing in us- for sending us. what if we all did this? what if every time we thought of someone- we let them know it. what if ever time we had that urge to let the car in front turn we did it, what if we called more, wrote more, gave more, hugged more, said 'thank you' more-- i think this crazy spinning world would be even better.
2 comments:
xo,
km
xo to you too!
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