Written by Susan McDonnell
It’s hard to describe my emotions upon receiving the e-mail from Life in Abundance that our container had arrived safely in Kenya. I experienced a mixture of prayerful joy, thankfulness, satisfaction… and relief! It had been two and a half months since I watched the container leave our church parking lot in Pennsylvania. Now seeing their photograph of it sitting on the ground in Nairobi was almost surreal.
A few days later, while still processing those emotions, I received a call from someone that was interested in doing a similar container project at a church nearby. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the unknowns, and was looking for information and advice. Could I help? Well, I was certainly happy to try, but wasn’t really sure how much help I’d be. After all, almost everyone on our team was in his exact position not that long ago.
We ended up speaking for almost an hour – about project plans, budgets, timelines, logistics, lessons learned, community involvement, fundraising, volunteer needs and personal experiences. It struck me afterwards just how far our team had come, how much we’d learned, how much we’d grown. It may have seemed like we were on a long, bumpy road at the time (and we were), but we completed the journey nonetheless, and could wholeheartedly recommend it to others!
I now recognize that there was perhaps a little sadness in that mix of emotions about our delivered container. Our part in the project is over, and there is much about it that we’ll miss. But God’s work through that container goes on – first in us, now in Kenya, and next in that church nearby. And that is cause for celebration!
For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:13
