Prepare
. . .
Wednesday
Trust
in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on
your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and
he will make straight your paths. -- Proverbs 3:5-6
by
Tara Taylor
Hope
is a young Christian woman living in the
outskirts of Nairobi. Aptly named, she is one of many youth
in Kenya finishing a secondary education and trusting God
for the future. Understanding vocation is not a new challenge,
nor is it unique to Kenya’s youth. Young people worldwide
expend much energy trying to answer the question, “What
will I do with my life?” For the youth of Kenya, the
pressure for answers is urgent.
Hope has a dream – to get a business degree and become
an accountant. It is a dream inspired by her love for numbers
and her desire to serve a vital administrative role in the
Body of Christ. Hope believes God put this desire in her
heart, and that it is His purpose driving her to pursue
it. For her, though, the pursuit of a dream is not the relatively
simple matter of filling out college applications and applying
for scholarships. Many other obstacles lie in her path.
Her
family has immediate needs for income, and her parents are
looking to Hope to find a job – any kind of job –
to begin helping support the family.
If
not a job, then Hope is expected to be married,
thus transferring financial responsibilities from her already
over-burdened family to a husband. Even if money and marriage
pressures were not issues, Hope also faces the cultural
challenge of being a woman seeking work in a business world
that, though changing, is still largely reserved for men.
How
does one encourage a young person with God-sized dreams
when the obstacles ahead seem insurmountable? In the face
of immediate demands, must hope die? Please pray for the
youth of Kenya as they try to balance hopes for the future
with an often desperate need to respond to the demands made
by the most basic of needs.
Lord
Jesus, we pray that you will walk closely with Hope and
with the other young people of Kenya who are weighed down
by the immense responsibilities that come with helping
their families manage from day to day. Give them each
day their daily bread, and help them cling to the promise
that there is hope and a future for them. And show us,
Lord, how we can tangibly be your agents of hope by helping
to relieve the burdens of their daily lives. Amen.
An Advent Journey