Earlier this week I felt stretched thin and spent. I found myself thinking “I can’t give out anymore. I’m just too tired to keep giving and giving.” In this place, a day does not go by without several people knocking at our door making their requests. It can range from kids asking for playing cards to people needing money to start a new business or transport money to get to a relative’s funeral. It quickly becomes exhausting to sort through each one and know how best to say yes or no.
Anyway, on this particular morning I found myself asking my Father for strength and energy for the day, including its requests. And I threw in a little “and please surprise me with some kind of encouragement too”. I went to the health center and met up with my friend Bahati. After volunteering there, we walked back together and she invited me into her small shop where she sells everything from sugar to permanent markers.
We had a great time chatting and she offered me two Ugandan “pancakes” her sister had made. They were made from cassava flour and banana and then deep fried—definitely different from American pancakes. But they were tasty and we shared a mango juice box too. As I sat there, I realized the joy of receiving from a friend. I never thought I would be so happy to have someone offer me fried pancakes, free of charge!
Even more than the pancakes and mango juice, I think I was also especially blessed by a real relationship. A friendship free of demands or requests. I left Bahati’s shop encouraged and renewed to give of myself again and thankful for God’s answer to my quickly breathed prayer earlier in the morning.
With Bahati in front of her shop.
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