cup of joy

What a beautiful morning as we wait with patience in the city of Detroit. Our Omaha flight was delayed, setting us back a day to arrive in Uganda on Tuesday evening instead of tonight. We have been learning about the joy of Christ in waiting. 

How faithful our Father is to sweetly lift our grip from the things we think we can control: time, plans, and goals. Proverbs 16:9 says,  The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."  This is His plan. This is His purpose. To slow us down and set our eyes on Him, for every step of this journey and trust in His sovereignty....what a gift! 

We were blessed to come together as a team this morning and recognize evidences of God's grace in each other and spend time in prayer. There is much to be thankful for even in the tension of this delay and our strong desire to be working at the Baby Home today. How do we find joy in this tiny setback? We fix our eyes upward to the One who is faithful. 

A Desiring God blog post from John Piper states it well:

"Philippians 3:8 says, 'Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.' In other words, knowing Christ right now, experiencing fellowship with him right now, is more precious, more satisfying, more sweet than anything else. We are not just waiting to see how all the circumstances are going to turn out when he works everything for good. We are experiencing the sweetness of Christ right now in the moment."

Piper goes on to explain the secret of finding joy in our circumstances:

"The secret is faith in God's sovereignty and in the sweetness of Christ. When we have little and have lost much, Christ comes and reveals himself more valuable than what we have lost. And when we have much and are overflowing in abundance, Christ comes and he shows that he is far superior to everything we have. The secret of joy in the hardest of times in this book (Philippians) is the supremacy of the sovereignty of Christ and the supremacy of the sweetness of Christ." 

He receives the glory, we receive the joy! Wow! What a precious gift. 

Here's the link to the entire blog post:
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-secret-of-joy-in-suffering

Thanks for praying for us! We will keep you updated. Uganda, here we come!