Let Love Be Your Roots....Eph. 3:17: Living Life Out

Hey everyone,

WOW!! I can’t believe it has been a week already. I apologize for not posting sooner, however I've been without internet the last couple days. Reminds me how lucky I am to have internet at my fingertips practically everywhere back home.

I wanted to give you a little update of what's been happening since I last wrote. I have been trying to soak everything in and enjoy every minute with these kids. The purpose God has for me here has been happening, and I'm always amazed of how He carries out His promises.

I honestly feel like I’ve picked up right where I left off last year. In America, when you’re gone a year you feel like you’ve missed out on a decade.   Here, everything is just the same. There’s new construction here and there, but the lifestyle hasn’t changed, and the people are the same. In fact I see the same motorbike drivers when I walk to R.O.C.K., and some remember me. The ask me, “Where have you been? You’re so lost!” It’s nice being back in the familiar in a culture I love being a part of so much.

My time at R.O.C.K. has been fantastic! We’ve done lots of great things so far: swimming, futbol (soccer), watched “The Lion King” musical put on by a school, grilled hot dogs on the 4^th for the kids to try for the first time, and other things.   There are lots more fun things planned, so I look forward to the things to come.

As I told you earlier, my main purpose here is to just love on the kids.   I prayed for opportunities to spend some one-on-one time with as many of them as possible. God has opened that door of opportunity, and I have had the chance to talk and pray with numerous kids so far.

There's one child I want to specifically share. This is a slightly lengthy story…so I apologize in advance.

I'm going to call him James just for the sake of privacy. James is a boy with no real family that he knows of that it still around. He ran to the streets several times because he was threatened to be beaten by various family members.   After about the third time of running away, he was taken to a juvenile center, called Remand. He remained there for several years, which he describes as a "dark and horrible place." He testifies of demonic presences and other sorts of evil activity.   It was through God only that James was brought to R.O.C.K. Ministries, where he has been since 2007. Although he is in a safe and loving home, there is still a lot of hardness and anger in this boy's heart. He has ran away several times from R.O.C.K. for various reasons, but has always been found and brought back, or the Lord "said something to him", as he puts it, and he has come home.   At times James can be very aggressive, cheats on his schoolwork, or chooses to be defiant to any form of authority.

I sensed this about James as soon as I entered R.O.C.K. in 2010.   When I first came, he would barely interact with me, and if he did it was very surface level.   It took about 5 months before he finally started to trust me, and talk to me.   James' big brown eyes began to sparkle a bit, and I started to see an awesome smile beam from him from time to time.   We became close, and I would pray with him often. I saw a different side of him that many people didn’t see. I saw a gentle, loving boy, burdened with a lot of pain and hurt from his past.

I was excited to see him when I returned this trip and continue to grow deeper in our relationship. However, when I came, it was in fact the complete opposite. He had just been brought home the previous day to our arrival from running away again with another boy.   Instead of being greeted at the gate with hugs and/or handshakes as I typically am, I hear “Go back! Leave!” from him as he walks around the back of the house. I just shook it off. However, throughout the day there was no greeting, no eye contact, no smile, hardly any recognition. That evening when I was preparing to head home, another little boy in the home comes and places a small note in my hand. The note was from James, not this boy. In it, he talks about he is mad at me, that I’m not his friend, and that I don’t love God. Initially I was a bit hurt and confused by these words, but immediately God said, “Patience.” I put the paper in my pocket and went home. That night I prayed for him, that whatever anger was in him would go away, and that God would provide me with an opportunity to talk to him and mend our relationship.

The next day, it was just the same, with hostility and anger, telling me to go away. But I continued to give him space, ignored the words, and continued to pray. I knew they were not his, that something else was going on.   That afternoon the kiddos had art class, and I was sitting around the table with them as they worked on their projects. At the end when they were cleaning up, a picture is dropped on my lap.   It was from James. I looked at him, and for the first time he made eye contact with me. There was a small smile, and he said, “If you lose that picture, you just wait and see what will happen.” Bam. He’s back.   I smiled at him, told him I would frame it when I got home and fix it up on my wall somewhere.   There was a change in his body language as he walked away. I knew he was slowly softening.

We had a staff meeting the following day with the teachers and mom.   The head teacher was discussing some issues where teachers all needed to be on the same page about.   She brought up students not setting goals in the morning, a typical thing many of the kids do, as they are required to set goals for the amount of work they will get done in each subject that day. She brought up James and that he hadn’t set goals for almost two days.   She looked at me, and said, “Julie, James appears to be close to you. I think you should talk to him.” I kind of laughed to myself, and at God, because I think He had a specific assignment for me with this boy. I told her I would do my best and see what I could do. That night, I prayed for a specific opportunity to talk to him.

Well, God heard my prayer. Wednesday night we stayed for supper and devotions. As it was getting close to the time for me to go home, James came up to me and said, “Teacher, I haven’t told you my whole story yet, isn’t it?” I said, “No James, you haven’t.” He said, “Alright, come over and I shall tell you everything.”

Let’s just say I was SO BLESSED by the 20 minutes I was able to share with him. He shared some very personal things from his heart, what makes him sad, what makes him angry, and why he behaves the way he does in school sometime. He said that he was so angry when I arrived because his friend had ran away, and I had left him last year, and so everyone he loved was going away. Knowing that I was only there a month was difficult for him to accept. But, I was able to encourage him personally and allow the Lord to use me as a vessel so He can hear what he needed to hear. I asked him if he knew that I loved him, and even more so, God loved him. He smiled, and said, “Yes teacher, I’m glad you’ve come back.” It was absolutely precious. I also was able to encourage him about setting his goals and being successful in school. Before we parted, I was also able to pray for him.

Well, Thursday I happened to be in the senior learning center, which is James’ classroom. I had the opportunity to encourage him and help him set his goals. He had a lofty goal, and I wondered if he would be able to reach it. But I told him to go for it, and we would see what happens. I have never seen him work so hard, and he completed all of his goal. Talk about a victory for him, and for me! I was rejoicing with him, and you tell he felt so good.   God was totally touching his heart, and I could tell it meant so much to him that I was there to see him to do it.

This is just one of the examples of some of the joys I get to experience every day here at R.O.C.K. Ministries.   I get to see God at work firsthand with these kids, and touching them all individually where their hearts need it the most.   And I am so honored that God is using me that way. There was definitely love before between the kids and me, but there is an ENORMOUS amount of love now.   They talk of me coming to Kenya permanently, living with them, being their houseparent, teacher, or a sidekick to mom. But regardless, they know that our relationship is forever, regardless of if I am in Kenya or not. They are receiving love that many have not ever received. And because I LOVE to do that, I get to enjoy giving out that love freely.

I’m pretty exhausted typing, so I’m sure you’re exhausted reading. Thanks for taking time to read through my blogs, and I hope you get something out of them.

I’ll write again soon.   In the meantime, check out a few pics of my time so far. I've been pretty bad about taking them, but I'll pick it up this next week.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Blessings to you all!