Trust in the Lord

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

"Trust in the Lord" is something we often hear, but it is something that has always been a rather abstract instruction to me before now. Trusting in the Lord has taken on a whole new meaning to me here in Kenya. Here in a foreign land where my own understanding has never been less sufficient. You see, my own understanding is limited to American customs and English words. It is tainted by a life of privilege that fears letting go and being without. My own understanding that cannot fathom the hospitality of this place and these people who have embraced me and who already call me family.
And so, I am humbled. Humbled by my 3 year old host niece, who speaks not only English and Kiswahili, but also Kikuyu, her mother-tongue. Humbled by my host mother who has opened her home and her heart to me, who shares with me the details of her life and her history. Humbled by people who welcome me gladly into the joy of their community.
I spent my first full week here in Kenya living in the house of Polly Mwangi, my host mother, along with her son, Mark, her three year old granddaughter, Suki, and Jane, a local teacher. During this home stay, we were given the opportunity to learn what Kenyan life is like on a day to day basis. I have learned how to eat traditional Kikuyu food which consists mainly of rice, beans, potatoes, greens, and goat... mixed together and mashed up in various ways. My favorite thus far is ugali a mixture of boiled water and white maize flower which is eaten with sukumaweke, a combination of chopped spinach, cale, tomatos and garlic cooked together with water.
At times, it is still difficult to be so far from home and familiarity, but I am learning to depend on a God far bigger than the one I used to know. I am learning to depend on the God who knows us all, who loves us all, and who unites us all. A God who is stretching my idea of what constitutes family, a God who is stretching my idea of what it means to have faith, and what it means to have enough. Though letting go of my previous beliefs is painful, it is immensely freeing to know that my Creator is continuing to mold me and to teach me what it means to trust in Him.