The Lord Directs His Steps

From Northern Uganda, across the road from Otino Waa, we bring greetings from Ilira Community Church!  We were repeatedly asked to convey their love, and gratitude to the church in America.  I was struck by their awareness that we did not come independently, but brought YOU with us and that we ARE a fellowship of believers across the world. They wanted us to bring their heartfelt appreciation back to you.

One of our projects was to lead children’s church one Sunday. I am impressed with the children’s understanding of who their God is, who their enemy is  and that worship and their faith should be vibrant.  I was so glad to see that the church, the school, and the house moms all reiterate the same message of salvation and living by the Word of God and prayer and the lordship of Christ in their lives.

This morning when I woke up, at 1:30am, and started putting pen to paper, I was led to the verse, “In his mind a man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” (Prov. 16:9)   When we faced strange foods, heat, sickness, intestinal bugs, (some of us got it ALL), we were able to remember that none of that caught God by surprise, nor was it out of His control.  When equipment that had TESTED perfectly here, didn’t work there, we needed the encouragement from that verse and that we were supposed to be at that place, at that time, with all the challenges.

We saw the sovereignty of God changing and rearranging the details daily, and it was perfect.   We could not have done that on our own without frustration or disappointment.  Nothing that we did ended there. This was so much bigger than us.  We were impressed that it will all go on and multiply in many ways. Every member of our team spent every ounce of physical and emotional energy, and God made that possible.   

I went up to my husband’s study this morning to ask him, “What is the reference for that verse that says ‘The mind of a man plans his way but the LORD directs his steps.’?”  And he said “That’s the verse I’m sharing this morning, and it’s the one a team member used the very first morning in the men’s Bible study.”  I knew none of that.  It was the bedrock of this trip.  What God gave and did in us we are still beginning to grasp.

T.M.