Don't Compare

I have just finished reading an inspiring book entitled Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption, by Katie Davis.  Katie lives her life for Jesus in a way that humbles and challenges me.  As I read about this woman who, at age 19, gave up her affluent way of life here in the United States and moved to Uganda out of obedience to the Lord's call, I felt at first defensive, then ashamed, and finally repentant.

I want to share with you how gently the Lord dealt with me as I began to open my heart and mind to Him, asking His forgiveness for all the sins I condemn in myself.  I share it at this caregiving blog because I know about the chronic sense of failure that is inherent in being a caregiver for someone who has dementia, especially if that person is someone who used to take care of you in the past.

If you've been a Christian for awhile there are probably points on your timeline where you have answered "yes" to the Lord's call, choices you may have forgotten but the Lord has not.  I want to offer you the comfort I found as I prayed today, recorded with the Lord's portion of the conversation in boldfaced print:

What is in front of you? 

Cleaning the bathroom.  Straightening this room.  Taking Mom for a walk. 

Why do you feel these things are of less value than what Katie Davis has done? 

Things like cleaning dead rats out of stovepipes?  Changing a diaper of a child and finding it full of worms?  Ministering to HIV positive children, kissing the heads of ringworm and scabies infected children? 

While I overeat, sink into laziness and depression, and procrastinate about cleaning a bathroom that isn’t very dirty at all—and …

Stop. 

Stop right now.  You have obeyed me, no less than Katie Davis has obeyed Me.  At the same age she was when I laid My hand upon her life, you responded to a similar call. 

What?  I got married.

You married in obedience to My call;  you were called to marriage.  I remember heart struggles you have forgotten.  I remember wounds that have healed.  I remember prayers and fastings you now dismiss as being of no import.  "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" (Psalm 56:8 ESV).  

So.  However improbable it seems, the Lord in His perfect knowledge values my small acts of obedience just as He does those of a Christlike role model such as Katie Davis.  And He doesn't want me making tongue-in-cheek analogies, as I might be tempted to compare Katie's ministry to an Olympic gymnasts' floor routine and my own to an out-of-shape 59-year-old's attempt to do a single pushup. But I'm to make no comparisons, because I am precious in His sight and of great value to Him.

You are too. 

You can find out more about Katie Davis's ministry to the people of Uganda at Amazima Ministries' website:  Amazima.org