God Grant Me . . .

Before we came to Africa I used to think of the “serenity prayer” as something only used in AA meetings, for the recovering alcoholic. Now I see that it is a perfect prayer for the recovering American in a majority world country. Life in the states flows at a quicker, more efficient pace. Internet zooms at the speed of sound (almost) and one can pretty much find any service or product desired.

There are many things that we cannot change here in Zambia~mind-numbing poverty, senseless traffic jams, frequent power outages, and administrative inefficiency. We need God’s peace during those times. There are things that can be changed~they may just take longer. Our roof tiles have been broken for several months now and the contractors finally came today to access the damage. Lord willing, they’ll be installed in the next few days. For those things we need courage to keep plodding and God’s strength to keep trying. And, it is the better part of wisdom to know what we can and can’t change. Without wisdom we will find ourselves banging our heads against the wall. That hurts! So, please pray that God would give us His serenity, His courage, and His wisdom. By the way, “My name is Karen, and I’ve been a recovering American for nine months.”