Abundance is not a term used to describe Chad unless in the manner of poverty. There is an abundance of poverty. Yet, right now, we are experiencing an overwhelming abundance.
Just two weeks ago the shipping container, carrying hospital supplies AND our household goods, arrived. This coincided with the completion of plumbing and electricity in the home planned for us prior to our arrival. We were now able to move into a larger home with all new furnishings.
Last November (2013), we received notice of a container destined for Chad from California. We traveled across the country to shop for furniture and household goods to add onto the container; all the while thanking the Lord for his provision.
I was disheartened to learn, just prior to our departure from the U.S. in May, that not only was the container significantly delayed, the home planned for us wasn't completed either. We were temporarily housed in a one bedroom apartment with the few meager possessions we carried with us in our cases and (thankfully) quite a few more borrowed or loaned from other team members.
I have been very eager to have more space and to have a bit more privacy as visitors could look into our old bedroom from the front porch. And visitors, I had a plenty, many days it was a continuous wave. From those selling items, needing items, needing money, needing my time, the locals' "clapping" could be heard coming from the porch alerting me to their presence should I not be sitting or standing a mere foot away in the dining room, bedroom, living room or office.
So happily, we traveled to Moundou, 3.5 hours away during rainy season to unload the container filled with our belongings plus a bevy of medical supplies and equipment for 3 hospitals and a few other families in Chad. It was Christmas in October for everyone!! But most especially us!!
Yet, as we began to unpack all of our new possessions, we had so eagerly awaited the arrival, the feeling of overwhelming abundance weighed upon us. In a culture of the truly impoverished, who have so few possessions, little access to clean water, no electricity and poor education, it was difficult to celebrate our good fortune. We unloaded a 40ft shipping container in front of some of the poorest people in Africa. Our 1000 sqft corrugated, metal warehouse with cement floors seems too large, too grand, too much. We are embarrassed by the abundance our new home and possessions.
Still, as we adjust to our larger space, I am thankful, in hindsight of course, for His timing and providence. We will not take our possessions for granted or as our own. "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." I am abundantly grateful for the home and comforts He has provided us. I hope we remain steadfastly faithful in sharing with others what has been given to us.
Living refreshingly grateful and abundant in Chad, "Do not give me poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread lest I be full and forget or deny You."
-Kim
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