From @mmm_water ... 2021 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2021. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

September 9, 2021

SAFETY SO FAR FROM HOME
Ellen Dozier
Volunteer, Arkansas

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8

When I told my American friends I was going to Africa with MMM, they often asked, “Is it safe there?” My answer was, “I feel as safe there as any place on earth.” The next question they asked told me a lot about their own fears and experiences. “Where will you sleep? What will you eat? What about wild animals? Are there bandits?” I responded to their questions patiently (most of the time), pointing out that my peace is not necessarily dependent on safe and familiar physical circumstances. My peace comes from the Prince of Peace, the One who will never leave me or forsake me.

Now, the truth is, if I heard an unfamiliar sound in the night in Malawi, I woke up with my heart beating fast. I prayed, remembering where I am, who I am and Whose I am, and I go back to sleep. If I didn’t understand what was going on around me during the day, I asked my African partner if there was something I need to do, and his answer brought me peace. When I made mistakes in language or got the truck stuck in sand due to a lapse in judgment, my peace returned with the laughter which followed the correction.

The peace I found in Africa surprised me the first year. I was a long way from home, separated from my husband for the first week of training. At lunchtime, I was parked in the shade on the side of a dusty track with five African men I barely knew. I could not have found my way back to my lodging or even the tarmac road after all the twists and turns we had taken that morning. Yet I felt as safe there, with them, as I ever had in my life. My sense was that they would have laid down their lives to ensure my safety. In the laughter and peace of a roadside lunch, God was in charge of our safety. Indeed, there is safety in Him regardless of how you define home.

Application Question: How can I trust God to be in charge of my safety?

Prayer: Father, help me to be ever mindful that I am safe in You, regardless of where I sleep or where I dwell..

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