Heart Surgery!

No, I haven't taken up the medical profession. I didn't do so well through biology anyway. And no, my heart is perfectly fine, as far as I know. Although, drinking whole milk right from the cow probably doesn't help it much. Though, four hours of soccer with kids one third my age probably balances it out.

Actually, the heart surgery I'm talking about is the week we studied counseling at the Institute of Childcare and Family. Last week, Uncle Jonnes (the co-founder of New Hope Uganda) spent a week with us looking at the heart of God for helping people. Two statements were foundational: "Whoever defines life for you determines how you live it." AND "Whoever defines mankind determines how you fix him/her."

Both of those statements present a challenge to the average mindset for counseling. If God defines life, then it is God that has to determine how to live it and if He defines humankind, He also determines how to fix us. The question came, "Who defines life for you?"

After four days of looking at the truth of the Bible and God's heart for His children, we entered a time with Daddy Father. We were to look at places where we believed Satan's lies about who we are and who God made us to be, to praise and thank Him for who He is, to meditate on God's Word, to confess and intercede and surrender, to worship and thank God and then ask Him for the next step.

It was this next step that threw me off balance. I realized I had honored myself and what others thought of me, seeking my honor and often not seeking God's honor in moment by moment activities. I really wanted to understand what God had next for me so I looked up honor in my concordance but before I even got there I was broken. It hit me what my name is that I had not lived up to but God had given me in the beginning: Timo - honoring and Theos - God. God met me and called me into my name, to live into honoring Him. Please pray for me right here, not for my honor but God's.

The first picture is two twin girls from our family group, Babirye and Nakato with Kim, and the other is a sunset outside of the house they are building for us. Only by God's grace, Tim