Sarah's Story: Girls, Gender & Gospel (Part 2)

I stayed at Sarah’s home for two days. She’s from Austin where she worked in marketing and communication. She continues that work for NGO’s in Africa. She and her husband have two biological boys, an adopted son of Sarah’s brother and three adopted girls from Uganda and Sudan. Six kids.Sarah invited me to stay at her home for a few nights. I met Joyce, her house keeper. Joyce’s husband left her and her four daughters for another woman. Joyce was a squatter with no skills when Sarah invited her to be their housekeeper. Sarah taught her how to iron, cook, care for the home. Sarah’s thinking was Joyce would have a skill when they went back to the States. It’s been four years, doesn’t look like going back to the States is in any of their minds, especially since their home in Austin burned two years ago. Sarah moved Joyce and her four daughters in to live with them . They send Joyce's’ girls, along with their six children, to school. Education is the way out of poverty in Uganda.Joyce, her four daughters, and Sarah’s adopted children have been provided a redemptive moment in history. Sarah and her husband have created a place where God can move and fully redeem.I’ve been thinking about how we have hope when suffering is all around us (and in us). Sarah has reminded me, more than she’ll ever know, hope is about recognizing our role in God’s story. He’s the redeemer. Only he can fully redeem the mind, body and soul. Our role is to provide a redemptive moment, an opening for God to do his work. If we can grasp that is what’s required then we can rest in the suffering. Yes, in a way rest. We no longer have to “solve” things or “eradicate things” but allow God to create another redemptive moment in history.So how are we doing with that?