God's Big Plans: Thoughts from North Africa
By Tiffani McCormick
It's crazy how quickly two and a half months can go by. I feel like we just got off the ferry and landed in North Africa, and now here we are leaving the continent, sitting in the airport in Bahrain (an island kingdom I didn't know existed until a few months ago). Truth be told, I've neglected blogging like I should for a few different reasons: One, limited access to Wifi (especially on our compound in Ethiopia for the last month); two, an abundance of caution as we travel to some closed countries and meet local believers who could get in trouble from what we post; and three, being overwhelmed by what I am learning right now and not knowing how to share it well.
Despite all that, I wanted to give a brief update on what we have been up to and what God has been teaching me over the last few months. Our ministry has looked very different day to day, but it has involved a ton of relationship building with locals, helping out a small business, hoeing and cutting grass by hand, working on a reforestation project, and teaching and playing with some sweet, sweet kids. Africa has flown by in a whirlwind, and I have loved getting to know people here.
The cultures of the last couple countries we have been to have blown my mind with how open and inviting they are. Strangers would literally invite us into their homes for tea or tajine or couscous in a humbling display of radical hospitality that we all can and should learn from. The believers we met inspired me with their faith because they didn't grow up in the Bible belt where "everyone" is a Christian, at least by name; they had to keep their faith hidden from those around them, even from their own family members, out of a legitimate fear of backlash.
In one country, we got to stay with a local believer and her children, and by the end of the month, they were family. I learned so much from her and her kids as we sat around our tiny dinner table every night and ate her delicious tajine (think crock pot roast but better), community style. This woman has faced insurmountable challenges with the loss of her husband and raising two young kids on her own, but her constant refrain cuts to the core of faith: "But God's plan is big. Is no problem for God."
What a convicting statement coming from someone who could totally be justified in not trusting the Lord. Living with her showed me how much you really can depend on God even when your world falls apart.
“God's plan is big. Is no problem for God.”
That lesson continued into our next month at an orphanage called Hopethiopia where we again got to see faith in action on a very real level. It's hard to believe that the energetic, passionate, smart, respectful kids we hung with all month started from some tough beginnings and had to overcome being abandoned in many cases. Watching some of the kids fight different physical and mental challenges and seeing them thrive just a few months after arriving at Hope testifies to God's faithfulness and the resiliency of the human spirit. Again, I was reminded that, "God's plan is big. Is no problem for God."
For the last two months, I've been reading in the Old Testament about God's plan for his people, the Israelites. It is wild and, truth be told, incomprehensible to me that a guy named Moses led an entire people group out of slavery, into the wilderness for 40 years, and then into the promised land. Reading through the story in Exodus, God's presence and constant drive to be close to his people shakes me to my core. "But I will be with you," he says to Moses. "I AM who I AM."
What does that even mean? It seemed like a nonsensical statement to me until I read one commentary's perspective. God is the only all-sufficient being, existing outside of time or other constraints. I AM who I AM is a reminder that God is God. Period. I am not.
As I explored this passage during our debrief in Spain a couple months ago, I realized the answer to a question I had been asking myself for a long, long time: is God enough?
I AM who I AM is a reminder that God is God. Period. I am not.
Sitting by the Mediterranean, praying and reading through Exodus, I realized that yes, he is enough. Knowing him is enough to make me pack up and leave home for a year with nothing but a couple backpacks. Knowing him is enough to make me trust that when I feel like we are not doing enough, I can still know that we are planting seeds of hope and love that will bloom long after we leave a place. Knowing him is enough for me to buckle up and keep pressing in as we head to Asia, our last continent, for the next five months.
The biggest reason I haven't blogged in forever is because every time I try to put to paper what God has been teaching me, I am overwhelmed. This is just a taste; if you're still reading this far, thank you for your patience as I attempt to convey an intangible, hard to grasp set of experiences and lessons over the last few months. To my support system back home, thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers; God is continuing to do big things around the world, and I am grateful for all of you being part of that!
If you are interested, my squad and I would appreciate prayers as we head to India and transition to our first month on our own with our new teams. It's hard to be away from home during the holidays, but I am thankful to be with this new family.
Sending love from Bahrain, soon to be India!
Tiffani McCormick is a covenant member at Soma currently participating in The World Race, an 11-country, 11-month mission trip to share the love of Jesus and serve others around the world.