Serving in Kenya this year made me fall in love with my Lord Jesus Christ. My story doesn’t really involve any drastic lifestyle change. I’ve always been going to church.. but it just shows how God, who I always thought I had a ‘relationship’ with, finally got proper access to my heart for the first time.

I was actually dreading Kenya when I booked my flight ticket; not because I didn’t want to serve but simply because I felt that if God did end up touching my heart then I’d have to ‘sacrifice’ so much worldly stuff that I loved in my life.

Arriving there however was very exciting; I was in a country I’d never visited before, with a really good group of friends out to do service and mission! Little did I know that God would completely unravel a whole new meaning to the word ‘service’ for me. From the first night the Holy Spirit was convicting me through Bishop Paul’s talk to repent, something I had been resisting for the past 7 years, before I started service the next day and to allow my Lord Jesus to wash not only my feet, but my whole body as He did to his disciples so that I can truly be a part in Him.

The main point that was constantly stressed throughout my entire Kenya experience was that ‘service’ without a deep personal relationship with God is no service at all. I’m not going to lie and say I’d never known that fact. What was amazing though was how evident and true that fact was witnessed by all my friends and myself throughout our stay.
After doing a couple of visitations, it really hit me how I genuinely did not know my Bible at all. The fact that I didn’t have the slightest clue where any of the verses were that I wanted to share with the people we visited, really troubled me! Quiet Time, something I’d always been struggling with, instantly became a requirement to me, and very quickly became a delight, a taste of heaven.

For the first time in my life I truly desired to allow God to invade my heart. Reading God’s word is simply indescribable. It was a big wake-up call showing me how shallow and fake my relationship was with Him. It allowed me for the first time to feel how my God loves me beyond imagination that He’s willing to forgive me repeatedly even though I am the crown of thorns on His head. Verses like “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5 suddenly became alive to me. I began to understand how awesome and mighty my God really is.

Seeing how quickly God chose to reveal Himself to me moved me to tears. I wanted to glorify Him through my actions and my words and serving in areas like Maseno, Kisumu and Alego gave me that opportunity! God allowed me to witness His glory in home visitations, school visitations, prison ministry, children and adult baptisms, market preaching, church meetings and even within our own group! Every afternoon when the whole group would get back together, we’d all be in awe of our great God and I’d think to myself ‘I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me tomorrow Lord!’.

Ever since I’ve come back to London, God has been showing me how much our relationship means to Him and I thank God with all my heart that by His grace I am able to join David and sing “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. I will bow down towards your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word”.

I cannot wait to go back to Kenya next year!