Amazima
Welcome to Day 1 of the ABC blogging challenge! My, but it's difficult to get going. A million distractions come up as I sit down to put pen to paper type. The hardest part about this challenge isn't going to be the creative re-wording of prompts to get the alphabetical titles, but having to choose which prompt to write on! After much debate, I have settled on:
"Someone you would like to switch lives with for a day and why."
After much deliberation, I decided that if I could switch lives with anyone in the world for just one day, it would be Katie Davis, 23-old founder of Amazima Ministries. I've posted about her before, when I first heard part of her story.
Katie lives in Uganda with her 13 adopted or foster daughters. She started Amazima Ministries, a non-profit that sponsors 400 Ugandan children to go to school, and feeds about 1,600 children a day, as well as sending food to their families once a week. (Amazima means 'truth' in Lugandan.) After I found that article, I discovered her blog, and I spent the next several weeks reading every post from the last 4 years, devouring her story. She has a book out now that I can hardly wait to get my hands on so I can read more about her life.
Now, those of you who actually know me are probably thinking, Laura? Wants to go to Africa?? Even if there are children involved...Laura? In AFRICA?? And you'd be right. I'm very likely not cut out to live in Africa and have to dig insects out of the bottom of my children's feet and treat injuries and diseases and face death and starvation and disease daily. It's not a life I would choose, if I had another choice.
The reason I would choose to trade with her is to experience her faith. You cannot read her story and not feel her deep love of God and her dependence on Him. In America, we have everything we want, even those of us who consider ourselves 'poor, starving college students.' It's easy to become dependent on ourselves and to forget to rely on God. Where Katie is, God is all she has. Her every day is evidence of His provision and sustaining power and healing and grace and love. Trust is an action, not a state of complacency. She is living the commandments found so often throughout the Bible, and living them fully and constantly.
She is one of the most inspiring people I've ever come across. I encourage you to read her blog, and let it challenge you, as I know it has challenged me. Her faith is real and raw and growing. She gives of herself so much, she loves in action, she serves humbly.
I would love to experience her life, just for one day, to know what it is like to be so completely sold out. This is not to say that I cannot be on fire with my own life, as each is called in her own way. But my life is tame, in comparison. As much as she talks about the stresses and the heartaches, she also focuses on the joy and blessings and miracles, and I would love to see that first hand. I'm having a hard time putting this into words, perhaps because she is such a good writer and tells her own story far better than I could, perhaps because I feel so insignificant in comparison, perhaps because I am just so overcome every time I read her words. Her testimony is astounding, and I can only imagine what it would be like to step into her shoes for a day.
"Someone you would like to switch lives with for a day and why."
After much deliberation, I decided that if I could switch lives with anyone in the world for just one day, it would be Katie Davis, 23-old founder of Amazima Ministries. I've posted about her before, when I first heard part of her story.
Katie lives in Uganda with her 13 adopted or foster daughters. She started Amazima Ministries, a non-profit that sponsors 400 Ugandan children to go to school, and feeds about 1,600 children a day, as well as sending food to their families once a week. (Amazima means 'truth' in Lugandan.) After I found that article, I discovered her blog, and I spent the next several weeks reading every post from the last 4 years, devouring her story. She has a book out now that I can hardly wait to get my hands on so I can read more about her life.Now, those of you who actually know me are probably thinking, Laura? Wants to go to Africa?? Even if there are children involved...Laura? In AFRICA?? And you'd be right. I'm very likely not cut out to live in Africa and have to dig insects out of the bottom of my children's feet and treat injuries and diseases and face death and starvation and disease daily. It's not a life I would choose, if I had another choice.
The reason I would choose to trade with her is to experience her faith. You cannot read her story and not feel her deep love of God and her dependence on Him. In America, we have everything we want, even those of us who consider ourselves 'poor, starving college students.' It's easy to become dependent on ourselves and to forget to rely on God. Where Katie is, God is all she has. Her every day is evidence of His provision and sustaining power and healing and grace and love. Trust is an action, not a state of complacency. She is living the commandments found so often throughout the Bible, and living them fully and constantly.
She is one of the most inspiring people I've ever come across. I encourage you to read her blog, and let it challenge you, as I know it has challenged me. Her faith is real and raw and growing. She gives of herself so much, she loves in action, she serves humbly.
I would love to experience her life, just for one day, to know what it is like to be so completely sold out. This is not to say that I cannot be on fire with my own life, as each is called in her own way. But my life is tame, in comparison. As much as she talks about the stresses and the heartaches, she also focuses on the joy and blessings and miracles, and I would love to see that first hand. I'm having a hard time putting this into words, perhaps because she is such a good writer and tells her own story far better than I could, perhaps because I feel so insignificant in comparison, perhaps because I am just so overcome every time I read her words. Her testimony is astounding, and I can only imagine what it would be like to step into her shoes for a day.
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