Unexpected Blessing
Today’s post is from Sue Wilson:
The first time I met Sara Sebyala (TOUCH Founder and Director) face to face, I had no idea what that face would look like. But in spite of that small detail, she was my friend, and I was so excited to finally be able to put a face on the name that had become so precious to me.
Sara and I started communicating, first by mail, then by email, about 6 years ago. She wrote to me as one pastor’s wife to another, and I wrote back. I listened to her talk about her life in Uganda – so far from my world in Arizona — and it made me tired. She was running a school for orphans, helping with her husband’s church and crusades, taking care of several adopted children and had just begun a family of her own. Samuel was a toddler at that time, and by the time Sara called to tell me she was coming to Phoenix to visit me, she was pregnant with her second child, Sandra.
I was so excited, waiting at the airport, knowing only that she was black and pregnant, but I had no trouble recognizing her when she came into view. Her beautiful smile was a reflection of what I had already seen in her heart – despite the miles and the ocean that separated us.
In December of 2010, I was finally privileged to make the trip to visit Sara in her home and meet all five of her biological children, as well as many of the grown children that belong to the Sebyala family because of the love that is shared with them.
My pastor husband and Sara’s pastor husband have also become good friends over the years, and for us to travel there and see first-hand the ministry that thrives out of the passion Steven and Sara have for sharing Jesus in their world was an amazing honor.
These two young people have built a ministry that is multi-faceted – I’m not sure I even understand all that they do! But I know it involves running a large church, operating a school for orphans, a radio broadcasting station, a traveling evangelical tent crusade, an annual leadership conference for Christian leaders and a home that is always filled with people!
To see Steven and Sara give so much of themselves to so many is truly inspirational. To see just a few of the lives that have been changed because two people were willing to follow God’s call is motivational. Steven and Sara already had my respect and admiration, but seeing their ministry in person was an opportunity to be thankful that God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary tasks. It was a reminder that will pop up in my mind for years to come, especially on the days when I need it most.
Their lives are a living testimony of Galatian 6:9:
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (NIV)
I continually give thanks for the unexpected blessing of a friendship that only God could have orchestrated.
