Having just returned from Uganda—the pearl of Africa—I could tell you how lovely the land was following the rainy season. Flowering bushes, trees laden with mangoes or jackfruit, and lush garden plots seemed like Eden restored.

God speaks through creation’s resilient beauty.

A visit to the bank took my husband the better part of an hour, when at home it would take ten minutes. I sat with our driver David in the hot car, listening to a blaring sound system on the street. Animated voices spoke in a native tongue as though preaching, taking no breath.

The sidewalks teamed with activity—people selling grilled goat kabobs at our windows, the destitute pleading, women with babies strapped to their backs, motorcycle taxis whizzing by, a man with at least eight foam mattresses teetering on the back of his bicycle, and another with a huge stack of bananas. The kaleidoscope movement was ever changing, colorful, and even beautiful, yet there was something about their day-to-day survival that humbled me. I easily obsess on disparities.

This time, however, I asked God to help me be present in the day and leave the weightier concerns to Him. For me—that is growth.

God speaks in fresh ways when I am outside my familiar world.Continue reading