A few days ago I was heading to Precious Blood Kilungu as part of my Equity Volunteer Mentoring. As I approached town, the Equity officials told me not to go and postpone the trip. I was very disappointed. Here I was going to do what I love and trying to encourage a girl like me to dream big and they tell me not to go? I sat in the bus thinking what next? Should I go back home or what. In my heart, I told God to take me somewhere, anywhere. To be honest, I was hoping for a plot. God listens to every word we say. I got to town and thought of walking around town to pass time and then go back home. As I walked in feeling low, I heard somebody call me. When I turned, I saw an old classmate whom I hadn’t seen since I left High School. She was in the company of her friends some of whom were my schoolmates too. They told me they were heading to Lenana School for a christian mission and I should join them. The experience was life changing.
The topic of the day was Our Identity in God. Many are the times we go through life trying to be like somebody else or better than them. We try to look for fame and money. We want to be successful and help somebody else do the same. Much as we do it in good faith, we unconsciously try to fulfill ourselves and to create our identity based on who we think we should be or what society thinks we should be. I shared some of my experiences with the boys but that day was not just about me. I got to listen from some of my friends as they talked about our identity in Christ from a biblical perspective. God wants us to be prosperous and to succeed in life. It is not wrong to pursue achievement. However, he wants you to be more like him. Every action we take should be defined by him. When you make a mistake or fail to achieve all that you have wanted, the people closest to you will condemn you but when you identify yourself in God, you will still see yourself as being worthy of being in his presence.
We cannot always satisfy how people want us to be or how we want ourselves to look but in God’s eyes, there is no condemnation. This brings me to an area called jealousy. I cannot pretend that there are times I have not looked at other people and felt that they have more than I do. It is a weakness that I think we should ask God to forgive and to get rid of. You look at somebody and ask, why do they have a better life or a better car. We base our value on worldly things. Overcoming jealousy can be hard especially if it is out of spite. I got a few lessons from reading Pastor Robert Burale’s tweets. To overcome jealousy, don’t compare yourself with others and understand your worth. You will never be like somebody else but God can mould you into a great person if you allow him. This is a lesson you and I will have to learn again and again, that God’s high calling is what will sustain and fulfill us.
Now I look at the events of that day and I understand that it was God’s intention to close one door and open another. A door in which I would walk through and learn to identify myself in his image. God has a great belief in you so don’t give up. Challenges will definitely be there but you can make it through. Everything happens for a reason even the smallest of things.