Thanks for Nothing!

We all have heard the expression “Thanks for nothing!” It isn’t really an offer of thanks at all. It is an angry declaration that the person speaking feels they have been treated wrongly, cheated, held out on.  This week the utility company came to my home and accused me of owing hundreds of dollars in unpaid bills dating back to four years before I moved into this house. It did not matter that I produced all the paperwork showing my innocence. They demanded money and I would not give it, so they cut my power line in two. I didn’t say anything to them, but for a while I sure wanted to say something like “Thanks for nothing. Have a nice day.” In my drippiest sarcastic tone. 

Sometimes, we look at our lives and there is so much stuff to deal with, so many problems we can’t solve. We feel like the squirrel in the movie “Over the Hedge” who runs to one end of the hedge and back and declares “It never ends!” Then he runs to the other end of the hedge and back and says, “It never ends that way too!” We feel helpless. Helplessness is not a feeling we like to experience, so then we become angry. 

We want God to fix it. Make it better. We are his children and when He doesn’t meet our expectations of what a Father should do, we act like, well, children. Children who are angry and ungrateful and say “thanks for nothing.” 

What if “nothing” IS a gift? What if we had to trust Him for everything? What if instead of taking our problems away He walked with us through them? What would we learn from that? How would it transform us? 

If He gives me “nothing,” can I in sincerity say “Thank you, Father, for nothing?” trusting that in His love and wisdom He has given me something worth more than it appears to be?

In church yesterday we sang a Keith Green song, “There is a Redeemer.” The first part goes like this:

There is a redeemer, 
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, 
Holy One,
Jesus my redeemer, 
Name above all names,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Oh, for sinners slain.
Thank you oh my Father, 
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit, 
'Til the work on Earth is done.

"In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

We can give thanks to Him IN everything, because He has given us his Son, and that IS EVERYTHING. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A New Project

photo by Jill Lowery

For those who've been praying for the Mitendi Center and the court case, here is an update. In last week's post, I mentioned a need for prayer for Thursday's court date. The opposition requested, and was granted, a continuance, so everything has been pushed to next Thursday - Thanksgiving Day. That is not a Congolese holiday so that date was not significant to them, but my American friend who directs this ministry now has to spend her holiday sitting in a courtroom. Please continue praying for the center and for a right and just decision by the courts. And also pray for Jill, that in all this God will strengthen her, give her wisdom, and grant her a thankful heart, encouragement, and contentment in all situations.

We have been working on a new project with the girls at Bandal. These girls are graduates of the Mitendi Center and are in sort of an internship or apprenticeship phase, continuing to build their repertoire of sewing skills and improve them while earning money to support themselves. The new project is a request for several small, lined, zippered bags.

Many of them already have experience making zippered bags but we wanted everyone to use the same technique, follow the same pattern and sequence of steps, and practice precision. So we held a couple of workshops this week and last week, showing them how to do everything from tracing the pattern and cutting to doing the zippers and corners. They did the work, we just walked them through it. Then we supervised while they made more to be sure they "got it" and to help with any problems. 

In the states, our culture equates professionalism with quality workmanship and a high work ethic. It is not quite the same here. In addition to honing their skills, the interns are also being taught the value of correcting their mistakes, that customers will pay more for quality products and take their business elsewhere if workmanship is poor, and that ultimately their success is up to them. It is sometimes a not-so-fun part of their training, but it is for their own good.




Daniel usually does school work when I am at the Center, but he tagged along this week so we put him to work, which the girls found amusing.








I have spent enough time with these young women now that they feel comfortable making jokes and sharing laughs with me. Jill and I had spent a day going through all the steps and figuring out the best way to teach them to make these bags. We even made tiny prototypes so that we could show them how the zipper and corners ought to be done and how it should look. They thought our little bags were funny and jokingly told us we earned a "zero" grade on our work, but in the end it really helped them to have a visual example to study.

Goin to the Chapel - Cool Beans!

A week ago, Jill and I had the privilege of joining our friend Mama Jackie in attending her daughter's wedding. I felt honored to be invited, and doubly honored that of all the fabric she could have used to make her outfit for the wedding, Mama Jackie chose the fabric that I had brought to her from the states as a gift from a dear friend (A Gift for Mama Jackie). 

I was triply (is that a word?) honored because the outfit I wore was sewn not by me, but by Mama Jackie. When I tried it on at the fitting, she told me she wanted me to wear it to the wedding, which I was happy to do.




I did my best to get some photos, but between the fluorescent lighting and my obvious lack of skill and training, I deleted far more photos than I kept. My basic plan of attack when I am taking pictures is to take a bazillion and that way I almost always get at least a few good ones. The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome, and the ceremony was beautiful. I loved seeing the differences and similarities between a wedding in Kinshasa and a wedding in the U.S. 



One of my favorite things about Congolese weddings and churches is their choirs. They have little or no accompaniment, sing from memory, and sound lovely. 

A girl who was in the procession.

Some photos of the bride and groom

Save the Date!

I have a lot of things I want to "write down" and share from the last week or so, but today I really want to focus on the Mitendi Center and it's needs because tomorrow (Thursday) is our court date and I want to urge everyone who reads this to set aside time today and tomorrow to pray. On paper this court date is about property and land, but in reality it is about lives, and its outcome will affect many.

If you don't know about Mitendi Center, I first started blogging about it in my post, Finding Hope in Mitendi. The land that the center is on is owned by the Congolese Baptist Community but for several years now others have been squatting on the land, even building on it, in attempts to steal it out from under the ministry. Funds have been raised to build a protective wall around the property and it is mostly completed. Portions of it have been knocked down and other issues have prevented its completion. 

The Mitendi ministry reaches out to marginalized and at-risk girls with the gospel and practical help to enable them to live a better life, free of bondage. It also has a school that makes it possible for some of the poorest of the poor to get a basic education and to come to know Christ. The Mitendi Center is making a difference in Congo, one girl, one student, and one generation at a time. 

Please take time today, even if you read this after the court date has come and gone, to pray for this ministry and for those who serve here. The last court date was postponed, and that could always happen again, but even if it doesn't, the battle is really a spiritual one, not physical, and the enemy will continue in some fashion to try to thwart the work God is doing here. 

The Blue in My Brown

I walked out into our yard yesterday morning and found this beautiful blue hydrangea flower. My hydrangea bush has been sickly, as you can see by the surrounding foliage. I thought it might not survive. It was almost all brown and most of the leaves had fallen off. Finding this flower was a bright spot in my morning and just a really nice surprise. The sort of thing that makes me feel like God put it there just to make me smile. I have a friend who once said these little surprise blessings were like God was winking at her - a special moment between them and a reminder that He not only loved her, but also took pleasure in blessing her.

It reminded me of something I had read earlier in the week. A fellow MAF'er had shared this article by Jason Carter. He suggests several ways to refresh and encourage missionaries. Even if that subject doesn't interest you, I encourage you to read the post because it really applies to the entire church body. His article is specifically about things people can do while a family is on their furlough, and having recently returned from our first furlough, he is pretty much spot-on. However, there are lots of ways people can bless their missionaries without waiting months or years until furloughs come around. The very first item on the list mentions letters and cards for birthdays and holidays. That is HUGE, especially in this age of emails, and social media. Real letters and cards are so much more personal.

I was reading through all the suggestions and thinking about myself and my family, mentally saying "ooh, that one!" and "oh, yes! That would be so awesome!"  about various items, when my thoughts of myself were (thankfully) interrupted. I need that sometimes.

The article states that one of the least helpful things you can do is ask a missionary to let you know if they need anything, because they won't/can't. But that isn't true only for missionaries. We all throw that statement out to people we care about and often we really mean it, really want to help, and really want to know the best way to do that. But we all also know from being on the flip side that none of us are going to go to someone and say, "Remember when you said to let you know what you can do to help? Well...." 

If the Holy Spirit can spur our hearts to want to bless and help someone, surely He is also willing to guide us in how we can use our skills, our vocation, and our resources to do it without us putting that burden on the other person.

The author also exhorts us to be like Philemon, who refreshed the hearts of others. It must be an important function, and Philemon must have been really good at it, because Paul made a point of telling Philemon how much joy and encouragement Philemon's love for others brought to him. 

When someone does something to bring refreshment to my heart or even the heart of someone I love, that is an amazing thing to experience. It never gets old. Reading this article and talking to God about it made me stop and ask some hard questions.

"Am I being like Philemon? Am I refreshing the hearts of my missionaries? my co-laborers here in Congo? my friends and family?"

"Do I let God inspire me and use me to bring a "wink," a bright spot to someone else's day, like that bright blue flower on my sickly hydrangea? because I would love to be like that."

"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." Philemon 7