He's Orchestrating Everything by pastor Karena Lout

First off, our team (Todd and Josiah Lout and Eric Williams) wants to thank you for your support and prayers during our time in Uganda and Turkey. We couldn’t have done it without you! We saw God heal hearts and move in ways that were beyond anything we could’ve planned. Because I am passionate about helping survivors of human trafficking and bringing awareness, I asked our host, Pastor Fred, if he could connect us with a safe home in Uganda last year. He found an amazing anti trafficking organization for our team and we were able to visit their drop in center. Pastor Fred made a great connection with the director so he invited her to speak at his annual Leadership conference. Hundreds of pastors in Uganda now have more awareness and tools to protect children and young people from traffickers in their area. Because of this new awareness, this year I was asked to talk about prevention to several hundred young people at the teen camp we speak at in Rakai. So many young people shared their stories with me and plan to take steps to see justice in this area. This year, we also visited the safe home in Kampala and spent time with the girls. I made a deep heart connection with one young girl. She gave me one of her only belongings, a bracelet that says JOY on it. I humbly accepted it. She then said to me, “Mommy Karena, I pray no matter what happens in your life, you will always have joy and you’ll always remember me.” Needless to say, it wrecked me beyond words. She didn’t know that joy was something I had been asking God for more of. This beautiful young girl has been through the worst pain imaginable and she still knew real joy on the inside. Joy isn’t circumstantial. My prayer is that you would experience internal joy in a deeper way than you have before! At the same time our team was at this safe home, our daughter Sierra was in Thailand, helping at an Immigration Detention Center where trafficked women who overstay their visas in Bangkok are temporarily held. Ironically, most of the women are from Tanzania and Uganda. One woman that Sierra spent time with was able to return home to Kampala (where our team was at the time), so she met her at the airport so she could see a smiling face before returning home. I then was able to share this with the director of the safe home in Uganda who now plans to connect with the center in Thailand to support Ugandan survivors returning home. If you’re following along, you can see how all these dots are connecting. I could’ve never planned any of this out myself. It all began with a heart filled with passion for something and a simple inquiry to Pastor Fred. I want to encourage you to pay attention to those little nudges from Holy Spirit. Sometimes those nudges can unfold a bigger picture of something that we only see “in part.”

“We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. From the distant past, His eternal love reached into the future.” Romans 8:28 -29 (Voice Translation)

I encourage you to ask Jesus, “What story do you want to write for my life?” Your past, your pain, your limited understanding, your current challenges don’t have to define your story. Jesus is the author. It’s a story that will affect more than just you. Jesus has a way of taking our “little something” and multiplying it in a way that will feed so many others. Surrender to Him and watch as He orchestrates every detail of your life into something so much more than you could’ve imagined.                                                                                                                            Love, Karena