Callin' It Like I See It

This year’s a different year.

Last year my head was spinning.

I didn’t plan on STAYING in Africa. I didn’t plan on having to learn how to live in Africa, how to become a missionary, how to navigate culture shock to live out Kingdom culture, and how to learn new ways to love and be loved.

It came with tears of loneliness, confusion and joy… sometimes all at the same time. It came with obsessive reading of Matthew 10 and seeking Him in how to understand family when I was hurting my own back in the States. It came with falling in love with a 3 year old in a way I didn’t know I was capable of. And it came with being adopted into an African family in Mbonisweni, a spiritual family at Ten Thousand Homes and being completely supported by family and friends back in the States… while stumbling into my calling to live in and be a voice for the Family of God.

This year as I traveled through the States and was loved by so many of my Home people, I felt God shaping my story.

This year is going to be more intentional in ministry. Deeper. More impactful. He’s giving me a voice on a more specific calling – to be an advocate for strengthening families.

If we have strong families, we end the orphan crisis. We stop producing orphans and we create home for the existing orphans.

I’m kinda into that family thing… you know… in my past life (just over a year ago) I was a Marriage and Family Therapist.

I’ve had the training. I have the passion. And family is my filter… I understand people and the Kingdom of God from a family perspective. And I want everyone to feel welcomed into the Family.

When I finally lost the battle with God and realized I was staying in Africa, I had to grieve leaving my career. The things I knew how to do that worked there didn’t work here. Different language. Different culture. Different everything.

In America, we know we have a lot of broken families. But we can only know that because we are aware of at least some sort of picture of a whole family. We can sense a need or a deep-down desire to be part of something whole, to belong in a family. It’s the way we were designed… by the God Who exists in family.

In Africa, there’s not a language or, for the most part, an awareness for family. There are fuzzy lines that create community and a sense of belonging just because you’re there… but not that speak worth. Nothing that says you were meant to be known and designed in unique and valuable ways by your Maker.

This year it’s time to put on my big girl pants… or below-the-knee skirt, perhaps… and walk out my calling, my gifts and in the Truth that God has called me an Ambassador for Family.

I’ve been given unheard of and undeserved favor in my African church. My pastor asked me to speak once a month for the next year to teach the church family. He believes in it. He knows there’s something missing. He shouldn’t know there’s something missing… His culture doesn’t teach that.

The church picked up on it too when I broke every cultural norm with Lifa… pouring unconditional love, unending kisses and unceasing attention into an invisible little boy. Family love.

Family love brought Lifa to life. From invisible to un-missable.

The congregation started to respond to me differently and realized that maybe there is something to this kind of family love. So they’ve welcomed me on their stage as a mother and a sister in the community. They’ve welcomed me to speak family, not because I have a master’s degree or a license. Besides my pastor, they don’t even know that part. They’ve welcomed me because it’s real, it works and they’ve seen it. And because I’m family.

Here’s a video of me two weeks ago speaking about family love. We are having a blast with creative teaching… and breakthroughs I don’t even know how to put words to.

Kacy Chaffin Speaking at Church in Mbonisweni, South Africa from carly beee productions on Vimeo.

First we had to recognize that we needed to know about family… that this was for them and for the Kingdom. And believing that God is going to use that church to end the orphan crisis in Mbonisweni.

Then, we spoke about God’s love being our model for loving our families. They came up with the definition of God’s in their own language – proving they already knew how to love their families well.

And last week we spoke about restoration. I shared the story of Joseph and that when God is the Restorer, he makes things better than before. He didn’t just restore Joseph after he was betrayed by his brothers, enslaved, imprisoned and forgotten… He restored his entire family to much better than they could have imagined. We were called up to testify in front of the church and God that we needed to be restored, and we would commit to restoring our families so that God could start in our families to make a difference in the families in the communities.

Today during testimony time was blown away by what I heard….

Here’s an excerpt from my journal this afternoon:

Then a GoGo got up – one of the ladies I don’t even know. She was talking about how sick she had been last week. She had so much pain in her body and was miserable. She had been praying and praying but couldn’t get rid of her pain. She managed to take a bath to get ready for church last week, but was in so much pain by the end of her bath. I was speaking in church – she mentioned me by name. I was speaking about restoration, and at the end, I had a jug of water. I encouraged people to take a drink of Living Water as a symbol of exchanging the sin we were born into to be restored to clean water that would never leave us thirsty. She came up to take a drink and prayed. She felt the pain leave her body.

She went home to rest and woke up with no pain.

Then she had a dream… this part was hard to understand.  I couldn’t follow completely… But at the end she said she had been completely healed!

She said she loved me so much and that she knew “God must love love love love love Kacy”. She said they all loved me and were so happy I was here. The church cheered and clapped and she came and hugged me. I told her I loved her in her ear, "Ngiyakutsandza" and she squealed.

Amazing. Incredible. Your power in me in spite of myself. Thank you.

Teach me more about the authority I have in you, Father. Teach me more. Show me how to walk in it. I’m listening.

I needed you to know about what’s happening in church in Mbonisweni. God’s ready to end the orphan crisis. We’re calling it out by name. We’re facing it and acknowledging the Great Restorer.

Pray for me to continue to be His voice. Pray for His power to increase in me. Pray for my family in Africa to be restored. Pray for Mbonisweni. Pray for the orphaned and vulnerable children. God’s got all of this in His hand… and He loves to hear our voices joining in on the song so close to His heart.