Shaking

Every time I take the car for servicing, there is some shaking damage to repair – loose screws, a light misaligned, a wing mirror off or occasionally something more serious. The Rwandan roads provide a stiff test for vehicles and around here even the ones with a tarmac surface have an increasing number and depth of potholes. No part of the car escapes this shaking and constant care is needed.
Sometimes living in Rwanda feels a bit like this. There is a shaking which tests every part of us – physically, mentally, spiritually, psychologically and socially. I don’t mean that it is terrible, any more than driving through the beautiful countryside of Rwanda is terrible. I don’t even mean the word to have negative connotations, simply that living here is indeed testing. It is one year since we arrived in Cyangugu and I think this word sums up my experience better than any other single word would.
I am grateful to God for the opportunity to live and work in Rwanda, usually I am even grateful for the shaking, but especially I am grateful that He provides the constant care that I need to keep functioning here.
I hope to return without anything too serious having been shaken loose!