Lessons Learned

Yesterday we went to church at the Acacia Church. It is where Katie goes with her girls, and also many other missionaries we have met while we were here. It was a great service, and one in which I felt encouraged and reminded of what’s true by Pastor Terry. Our joy cannot be taken away, despite our circumstances because it comes from within. Another point he made that was equally challenging and convicting was how easy it is to let the distractions of this world keep us from putting Jesus in His rightful place of being first in our lives and walking with Him faithfully. After church, we went to lunch and then to Katie’s house for a low key time of hanging out with the girls, Mary Pat, Suzanne and Josie and Katie. It was good.
Today is Court Date for Dana and Suzanne. They will receive their verbal ruling which will make Josie Love and Asher legally theirs. Please pray for them as they go through this day. If we have learned anything, it’s that things can sometimes be unpredictable, but we are trusting God for His Spirit to fall over and through that place and that everything will go as expected! I saw Asher just before they left for Kampala where the court is. He was so excited! I started thinking about the joy that is coming for him and for the Keck family. After court today, he will never have to stay away from Dana again! He will be her son. Legally. Officially. Tonight, he will sleep at the Gately On the Nile with his mommy and not in a room with 13 other children.
And then there’s Josie Love. Josie, who has stolen our hearts and has responded so much to the love she feels from Suzanne. Though this process has been hard, the joy is coming, it is here. Today, Josie will become Mike and Suzanne’s 7th child, legally. It is a joy-filled day. I am so thankful to know these precious friends, to walk with them through this time. I can assure you it is much different than what I expected. Much harder, much more painful. But as Pastor Terry said yesterday, our joy comes from knowing that we are doing what Jesus has called us to do, and no circumstances can take that away. Seeing these children and others like them GO HOME to their forever families is joyful. I keep thinking about how Jesus came and found me, dirty and sick, full of ugly wormy sin, and He chose me anyway! He pulled me up out of my stinky, miry pit and placed me in His arms, took off my dirty rags I wore and put His righteous white robes around me and called me His child. He called me clean, forgiven and gave me His name. Nothing I did caused him to respond to me, there was nothing I could have done! He just loved me. And because of His great mercy and grace, He adopted me into His family and made me one of His own.

Asher, Josie, Judah, Joseph, Daisy, Bobby, Nicholas, Patrick, the Smalliing’s two, are real live pictures to me of Jesus’ love for us. They did nothing to deserve to be chosen. But God is good, He is loving and He is kind. He is sovereign and from the foundations of the world, He knew that one day these children would be here in Uganda, and that He would blow His Spirit through the hearts of these families and that they would come, pick these children up into their arms, and tell them they are loved. He knew that they would clean them up, put on their new clothes, and tell them they are now to be called Asher Keck, or Josie Love Mayernick. They would receive their new names and families! He knew that love would be unconditional, just like His love for us is unconditional.
I am grateful today for all I have learned here in Uganda. I am grateful for the reminders of His grace and mercy and love. I am grateful that despite my own propensity toward unfaithfulness toward Him, He is always faithful to me. I love you all…will see you soon! My battery is about to die,
So blessings to you all! Please keep praying!

In His loving grip,
Renee