I wanted to write earlier, but when God limits us it is for our good. It qualifies us to share depths that far outreach our flights of fancy. And we need the deep well of living water in times like this.
After all, it is a time of crisis. Perhaps our mind rivets on the big ones. Earthquakes and tsunamis that turn society upside down. Perpetual drought and famine that drain all resources and vitality. But we all face crisis situations. We feel the stretch of being at our limit. When the stresses of life wash over our head, or a difficult situation drags out unbearably long. Crises are the things that show us our need of God more than anything else. It is at times like these that we find out where we are building - the unshaken Rock or the shifting sands.
Some dangers are harder to recognize. It is easy to see the crisis of being deprived of our resources, our loved ones, our health, or our sanity. But what struck a cord with me recently was the reality of another type of crisis altogether. I was looking over a life summary of king Hezekiah described as four crises. The first was the choice to forsake his father's idols, where he emerges as righteous king. Later, in the crises of enemy invasion and sickness, his faith takes hold of God and mighty miracles are wrought. But it is in the crisis of prosperity that he fails.
Prosperity.
That's what we are all after, aren't we?
And surely that's why we need a God who limits us. We don't know when we have too much. We don't know when we getting "too big for our britches" and setting our hopes on air castles, instead of the mansions eternal. So, in faithful love, our heavenly Father crosses our wills and reproves our attitudes.
Do we then bawl and kick like a rebellious child?
Give the cold shoulder to such cruel authority?
Let us not miss the heart of it all! He strips us "for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness." (Heb. 12:10) Breaks up our rough earth and wrenches out our vain desires that He might grow His fragrant lilies there.
How are we responding to being reduced?
It is time to catch a vision of the beauty He is after!
It also puts a heavenly perspective on the recent news from Makindu. As usual, progress is painstakingly slow.
Among other spiritual labors, Lawrence updates on the Bible Center: We have been collecting the building stone for quite a long time. It is slow work as we cannot engage transport as we did at the beginning, so we transport it slowly using the bicycles. It will be some time till we will be able to collect enough at this rate. We also had to make bricks and burn them--just by ourselves as we are not able to engage paid labor. We will be sending some photographs as soon as we start the building work again.
And regarding the drought conditions: The rains came quite heavily on the night of 18th March and never came back again. It rained enough to get the vegetation sprouting again, but we could not sow until we had enough rains to get the seeds germinating. Now as I write, it is cloudy and we are expecting the rains to fall any time now. Praise the Lord.
Among the many blessings of being limited by God is our greater awareness of His mercies and goodness. It is a privilege to be small enough to fit in God's hand, and to witness Him working moment by moment. Let us not despise the day of small things.
Children need love, guidance, security, as any caring parent knows. How desperate is their situation when bereft of such necessary care! When we see the suffering of neglect on a little one's face, do see our call of duty? Do we respond in the love of our heavenly Father, who continually seeks to restore the desolate?
The pictures above show a group of children that gathered for a meeting in Mbisu Mbiu. "Twelve are orphans," we are told.
Ministering to the "fatherless and widow" is very much a part of the labors God has given his servants in this dry Savannah region. Besides Dorcas and Duncan and other orphans under the care of their aged grandmothers (see September 2010), Lawrence introduces us to the Musyoka family.
"We met Emily in church," the minister explains. "She described her experiences with her maimed grandmother and siblings. We were touched by her story and we went to visit them in their place of residence."
She has two brothers, David (above) and John. "The grandmother cannot work because her hands were permanently injured, and also she is old. She takes care of these three who lost both their father and mother years ago. They have been housed by a well wisher in a house he has built beside his home. They depend entirely on help for food, clothes and educational needs."
Brother Lawrence shares: "We are grateful to God to have met them, as the grandmother has given herself to the Lord after Emily. We enjoy services with them at their house in the middle of the week. Please pray for them." 
It is these "least" that our Lord identifies with closest. Isn't that a precious thought? Though the demands are high and the work involved, we are promised His blessing and help to bring up and nurture them in the Lord. (Eph 6:4; Deut. 11:18-19) The brother asks for prayer to be given "the needed wisdom, strength, and consecration to spiritually care for these young and old ones, until they can be able to physically fend for themselves and stand firmly in the Lord.
We teach the poor that they should seek the Kingdom of God first, and that the earthly goods would be added to them afterward (Matt. 6:33)," he states, seeking to live to the same standard himself. His guiding principal for this outreach to these needy ones is: "'Teach a man how to catch a fish and you have fed him for life.' We have seen how the free handouts have ruined people's lives and encourage them to live in poverty, as they fail to look to God for wisdom to work to lift themselves out from poverty."
The desire is to train the orphans in self-sustaining skills that will help them be a blessing to others. Please pray for this need, as it has been stalled due to the lack of a building to work in. Based on the command in James 1:27, the brother concludes, "We have placed ourselves in the hands of the Lord to be used as He wills so that these souls are helped."
The drought has settled in around Makindu. The blasted corn crop pictures the days of famine ahead for these poverty-stricken people:
From where will their help come?
Recently brother Lawrence traveled to visit some of the people in their homes.
Here Dominic shares his testimony at a Bible study. "He is a very humble brother, very keen to know the truth and live it," the minister says. "He is learning slowly, after the Lord healed his wife of a serious case of ulcers. She was hospitalized for two years, but she never got healed. When we met, she was desperate and hopeless. But the Lord has now healed her and they are rejoicing."
This sister is newly saved, and was "very happy after the service in her home."
Here brother Dominic stands in his failed maize crop. "Not a single maize cob to harvest. He had a reasonable harvest of beans however, which is family is now enjoying. He shared some with us," Lawrence says.
Despite the reality of hard times ahead, these people are finding reason to rejoice. As Habakkuk of old, is it not our privilege to lift our eyes above the circumstances...
to the Maker of heaven and earth, the God of our salvation? Let us continue to pray for these dear ones as they look to their very present Help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
There are many obstacles against progress in life. I believe discouragement is one of the worst. When the work on the new center building was begun last fall, there was much willing help and enthusiasm. Diligent effort, time, and money was poured into the effort. And the visible results cheered us all.
Then came the set backs. The fall rains eroded masonry and revealed weaknesses in the "ringto" beams. Orders for roofing timbers were delayed, and costs just kept multiplying... Time was put into other efforts and the building that was suppose to be the cornerstone of the work in Makindu has begun to take on the reproach of Jesus' parable. "All that behold it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'" (Luke 14:30)
Dear ones, are we looking at the crumbling walls with apathy and discouragement? Here the words of one who faced the rubble of a desolate city: "Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach." (Nehemiah 2:17) It is time to be encouraged, and remember that this is not our work, but God's. As the people of Jerusalem responded, "Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." (v. 18)
We need to be strengthened. God calls us to a good work. Not only the building up of earthly walls and buildings, but the constructing of eternal truths in lives around us. Do the "waste places" and "desolation of many generations" look impossible to restore? If we look at our resources and limitations, the obstacles are truly great. We need to look higher. We need to consider instead the ability of our God and remember that "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it" (Phil. 1:6) and "Faithful is He that calls you, who also will do it." (1 Thess. 5:24) He is the Lord of all the earth. Is anything too hard for Him?
Let us pray for one another and encourage one another in the work that God has laid before us!
What better place to be?
It is our natural desire to change our circumstances to avoid pain and suffering. No hunger, no labor, no impossibilities. And in doing so we would lose the best things of life. Where would be compassion? Love? Faith? As the songwriter said, "If I had the choosing of my pathway, in blindness I would go astray..." How much better to trust our lives into the loving hands of our faithful Creator! He knows best how to truly satisfy our needs.
Today's update from Makindu echoes this confidence. Though the crops are drying up and God has withheld the much-desired rain, Brother Lawrence reports: God is not uncaring. We went to the garden of Bro. Dominic Malonza, and his testimony was: "God singled me out in this drought." His bean crop has done wonderfully well, whereas the crop has failed in several other gardens. Praise the Lord for all His care for His children, for He has said, "...I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb.13:5).
We have accepted the Lord's will in these matters and have submitted to Him to learn whatever He has for us to learn in this drought, which is now taking its toll of the crops. We still have greens available and people have not become desperate yet. If the rains come, some will harvest some maize. The animals will have fodder till the next rains if they come in April/May. So we have a lot to thank and praise the Lord for.
However, we have experienced from the past that famine causes people to seek God more seriously. So we have begun asking God to work things in such a way that more will turn to Him and look to Him for help and deliverance - not only from sin, but also all other things hindering souls from getting closer to Him.
Yes, Amen. In the Father's will every request is granted. In His hands we are safe. There is no better place to be.
Every farmer wants a harvest. It is the purpose of all his planning and hard work. And it is the desire of every laborer in the Master's vineyard to see fruit. Yet it is not guaranteed. It is possible to spend weeks and months, even years, of labor and be disappointed at last. Do we value the harvest enough to keep contending for it?
Much spiritual sowing and laboring continues in the fields Brother Lawrence and his wife have been called to. Although the meetings mentioned in the last post were cut short, it soon became evident that God had appointed the change in plans so they could go minister to some elderly people in the Mount Kenya area.
Lawrence (standing with his wife) held several meetings for these dear folks, with a large attendance. "Please,pray for these old people and the neighborhood," he writes. He is also thankful to report that an elderly couple nearing death seemed clear with the Lord. Others, like the fig tree in the parable, are found with a fruitless profession. Please pray that God's faithful digging will bring a response.
The physical needs of the Makindu area are also much on the minister's heart. Though the maize and bean crops have grown well, a final rain is very much needed. We see in the green fields the hope of next year's food supply - if there is a harvest.
Because of the replenished water supply from the earlier rains, this brother has been able to irrigate his fruit orchard. The maturing oranges (above) and mangoes (below) promise sweet reward for his labors.
Like in most temporal cares of life, the spiritual effects are not far away. The pressing needs of life bring us to the end of our resources and require us to seek for help. We know the parable Jesus told of the poor widow and the unjust judge. Though it illustrated the need to "pray and not to faint," how often does the "unanswered yet" prayers seem in vain? Listen to our Lord's conclusion: "Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." (Luke 18:7-8) Do we believe Him?
Will we neglect to pray for these dear people? There is expectant, faith-filled patience for us to learn in our labors. "Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until they receive the early and latter rain." (James 5:7)
"Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?"
Praise the Lord, another season of rain has been given to the Makindu area! To those familiar with the barren outlook of continual drought, these prospering fields are a vision of hope and promise:
Though the rains were heavy enough to collapse a meeting house roof, they were a much-sought-for answer to prayer. In this land of continual struggle to survive, water is truly the source of life. Please remember them in prayer as they continue to tend their crops and trust God to supply their daily needs.
I am reminded of Ezekiel's vision (chapter 47) that describes the river that flows from the sanctuary, bringing life wherever it goes. We are told that the banks are lined with trees that produce a continual supply of fruit. Such bounty is enjoyed in the Mt. Kenya district which the minister visited recently: 
Bananas
Pawpaws
Mango, Avacado, Macadamia nut trees
and Passion fruit flourishes. The possibility of having such abundance for the picking seems ideal, but it is sobering to note that it hasn't produce spirituality in the soul. Instead of the fruit of godliness and faith and love, spiritual corruption and mere profession abound in the Mt. Kenya region. How many forfeit spiritual life for the comforts of earthly wealth and prestige!
Beginning last Friday, an extended meeting began in Makindu with many traveling to attend. Let us remember this effort to offer truth to the spiritually thirsty, as the Lord lays it on our hearts. Brother Lawrence writes: "Opposition in various ways is very high, but we know the Lord never lost a battle. All is for our good. Praise the Dear Lord !!"
The potential for a fruitful harvest is possible because of the Water of Life, which is not limited by the barren circumstances. It is Jesus that makes all the difference, for He came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
