18 February, 2008

Sweet Potato Moments

There are moments in the life of a missionary when you miss something specific from another place. It`s natural. A missionary life is a life sacrifice. Even when you enjoy the land where you have "landed", you still miss people and things left behind.

God sees everything. He knows every desire of our heart. And I´m continually and increasingly astounded at the lengths He will go to so that we experience the extravagance of His Father´s heart.  So that we understand that even a silent sigh of longing that isn´t particularly important to us, is an opportunity for Him to show that everything we have given up is counted.  That He not only stores up, but pours out rewards upon us. Some of the more frustrating hardships may take a while to deal with, but there are little blessings along the way.

And so it was that within a couple of weeks of an offhand comment to someone that I had never seen sweet potatoes in this part of Germany and how much I enjoyed them in South Africa, I find myself confronted with a little pile of extravagantly priced, small but perfectly formed sweeet potatoes. I had never seen them in that supermarket before. 

At first, in shock and then secondly scowling at the extravagant price, I was content with the "Well what do you know, sweet potatoes in Germany!". My daughter, who hates sweet potatoes, cried out, "Mummy, get some. You love them!"  She won, of course.  And so did I. I won a new understanding of the Father`s heart.

I hadn´t even asked Him for them. It was just a little wish, deep down inside. A little sigh of longing that wasn`t even particularly important. Just a little sacrifice which I wouldn´t even have listed were someone to ask me what is difficult about moving to Germany.

But God knows our heart. He knows how to spoil us. And I nearly just walked past my treat in wonder. But thankfully I didn`t. Not only does God love us extravagantly, we have to allow Him to do it too.

"O Lord, You have searched me and known me... You understand my thoughts from afar...before I utter a word, You know it completely..." Psalm 139