I thought this all through training before I got to Uganda, and it is definitely true now, too.
Life feels deeper to me. Not better, not worse, but deeper.
The balance of contentment and discontentment is in the same place, but life is deeper. It is not that we are in Africa that makes it that way. It is that we are on mission with our glorious, pursuing, missional God. Context and geographical location are secondary. No matter where we are while on mission, it is hard. So hard that it requires daily divine intervention. Each day we surrender a little more of our will for more of His. Each day we die to our selves just a bit more so that He lives a bit more through us.
This process is not something that can be done with our ambition or talent or resolve. It is a miracle. It forces you to go to God moment by moment. It forces you to rely more completely on His provision. In the midst of reliance, intimacy increases. Maybe God calls us to join His mission not just for the sake of drawing others closer to Himself, but also to draw us into circumstances that He can use to draw us into the depth of life that is abiding in Him.
Along the journey of the good works that He has arranged for us, we find that the Lord has us at the destination already: Resting in His arms.
