I met a Pastor from Uganda at church last Sunday. I hadn’t been to church for quite a while due to my family situation and Sunday being the only day that I could have time with my children and my estranged husband. I was contacted by the pastor of the church that I used to attend and asked to come and lead the worship as I am an experienced worship leader with a prophetic anointing. So I did.
As I sang worship songs to God something inside me shifted. I had been playing the game of life for many months, going through the motions – kids to school, building my business, interacting with my friends – all worthy pursuits but with something missing from my heart and spirit. I recognised that something this Sunday. It was the call in my life. You see, for over 20 years I lived the call of God on my life. I was a seven days a week Christian, with a heart full of zeal for God and a vision to make a difference in the world. Along the road, there were personal misunderstandings that caused injuries in my heart that caused me little by little to shut off from that call.
So as I stood there listening to the music, I could hear my heart talking to God and asking him where along the way had I lost my heart for the call. Where had I moved away from the pure joy I felt at standing before Him with arms outstretched singing with all of my heart and soul. He showed me the various points along my journey where I had been wounded.
It was later that morning that as I listened to Pastor Wilson from Uganda share his journey that I could see the parallels to myself and he even echoed my conversation with God through his message. A connection was formed between my heart and his. An empathy of paths.
We met formally after the service and exchange contact details. We both felt there was something more that was to come from our “connection”. Later that week we met again and started to talk about Uganda and the mission that he had there. His heart for his people glowed out of him. His love of his country shone from his eyes as he told me about how his country is stable and they are aiding the countries around them. Then he shared with me the music of his wife and the congregation he belonged to. As he shared the music, I saw the raw joy in the people and an idea formed in my heart. I asked him if it was expensive to record the CD and he said yes. But when he told me how much per song, I was astounded to learn it was just $200 Australian dollars. Considering a CD in Australia would cost approximately $20,000 to record, that seemed so cheap to me. I asked him, if I come to minister to the women and the children, would I be able to record a CD while I am there with your people and he was overjoyed at the prospect. My seed of an idea, bloomed before my eyes and Mission Uganda was birthed.
The challenge then came: Could you come in November, 2009?
The wheels in my mind spun for a few moments. November? For how long? I asked and he said, “For 3-4 weeks”. I thought of my four children and how impossible it has been to get care for them to have even a weekend away from them, let alone 3-4 weeks, but I did not disclude the opportunity. Instead I took it to prayer.
I asked God to give me a sign and two signs came.
The first, I asked my children to pray for Uganda and to ask God what he had to say about it. My daughter, who knew nothing of the offer for me to go or Pastor Wilson, said, “God’s telling us to support the mothers and children of Uganda.” Immediately Pastor Wilson’s words rang in my ears, “I’d like you to come and work with the women and the children and the worship team.”
The second, as I was on my pastor’s facebook page telling her about the invitation I chanced to notice a video in the bottom left corner that had an African child’s face on the front of it. I clicked on it and up came the words “Uganda”. As I watched the video, it showed the desperate plight of some children in a remote village in Uganda. I started to sob like I have never cried before, there was a deep level of brokenheartedness that came upon me. I believe that it was the seeds of love for the nation that God was imparting into my heart, especially for the children.
This was the video of Sam, Esther and Jane that I saw that broke my heart.
So where to from here?
I have made some decisions that I am going to put here in my blog, so that I bind myself to them.
Firstly, I have decided to make this my Personal Challenge Quest for Women Can International Inc for 2009. When I had the idea of the Personal Challenge Quest before I started Women Can Interational Inc this is exactly what I saw the Quest being all about.
Secondly, I have decided that I will respond to the call and go in November 2009. I don’t know how. I don’t know where the finance will come from, I don’t know who will care for my children (I’d love to take them with me). I don’t know what I will do when I get there but I want to say yes to the call.
Thirdly, I have decided to use this opportunity as a goal to address the other issues I have in my life. I am going to use this opportunity to fuel my fitness and address my weight issues. Having a goal is a great motivator and as I will need to be fitter to cope with the demands of the journey, I am going to begin my preparations immediately.
Fourthly, I am going to open a specific account to start to save the money for the journey. Into this account I am going to put the income from my business that comes from jobs I do for Christian enterprises, ie Churches, Groups, Individuals. I’m also going to allow others to contribute to this account as I need to raise $5000 for myself to go and to be able to record the CD while I am there.
Finally, I am going to find out what I can take with me that will make a difference.
I find it very interesting that Uganda should be called “The Pearl of Africa”, as I was the founder of Pearl’s Women’s Magazine and pearls have become very special to me.
I ask all those that read this blog post to pray for me. If you are not religious, then engage with me as a performer and a woman who wants to make a difference in the world and send positive thoughts for my recording project and the music that I will be taking to Africa and the gifts of knowledge and wisdom I can impart to other women and children. 
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