Thanks to all those who gave widows farmland through this year's Christmas catalog, 24 more women and their children have received a quarter acre of fertile farmland. They have a place to build their own home and a source of sustenance for their families. Their future is changed because of your gifts.
What a beautiful picture of the Gospel! It brings to mind Deuteronomy and the Festival of Weeks.
9 Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.
Seven, the number of rest. The land, the promise of covenant rest. And now, in Christ, we enter that rest (Hebrews 4). And we REJOICE. We celebrate and enjoy the blessings of being in God's family.
As always, God declares the covenant blessings to be inclusive. Because God's heart is for ALL of his children, he takes special notice of and care for those in society who may otherwise be overlooked and may miss out on the blessings/prosperity of the community. He makes sure that we cannot miss the servants, the foreigners, the fatherless, the widows. They get to rejoice too. We are reminded that all that we have received is a gift, and a gift to be shared by all. This is why, as always, the good news is especially good news to the poor. In fact, if it is not good news to the poor, then it is not the true gospel of Christ.
In the agrarian society of Uganda, this picture of the land is especially relevant. It is from the land that people receive their sustenance and any prosperity that they taste. So, when widows and single women and their children receive their portion of land, how God must rejoice! His kids (and those closest to His heart) are experiencing the covenant blessings- of rest, of inclusion, of real and tangible hope.
Thank you to all of those who gave land. Thank you for including these precious women and children in the "family blessings."
Read more at http://www.impactnations.com/blog/
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