“What you did for me was extraordinary. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for you.”
When I heard that, tears filled my eyes.
For so long, I felt so ordinary in Tanzania. We quit our jobs, uprooted our lives… an ex-boss mocked me for killing my rising career trajectory.
Was it worth it? I haven’t even achieved anything extraordinary.
Work here moves slowly. So often, I wonder if I’ve done too little.
Yet, J’s remark stunned me. It reminded me of when we met by accident during our first 2-week visit to Tanzania, how without me knowing, he’d prayed to God silently that if I moved to that small town, he’d quit his doctor job in his big city to serve as a volunteer to be mentored by me.
I had no idea at the time.
“If God could raise $100K for you to pursue yr Masters of Public Health at Hopkins, I want to believe He can do it for me too,” he’d said, alluding to the testimony I’d written in my book Dream Brave.
“If you hadn’t paid for my Masters application and believed in me, I wouldn’t be here today,” he wrote to me from Duke University in USA days ago.
As I looked back at old photos, I realized how much we’d done together- built community partnerships, written proposals, conducted training…
I’d forgotten what I’d done. Forgotten that when he received a partial scholarship with a deep heartache because he still couldn’t afford the fees, I’d encouraged him to write back to tell them he wouldn’t be able to pursue his dreams with a partial scholarship.
A week later, the administration used funds amassed from others’ rejected scholarships and pooled it for a full scholarship for him. 😭
That same week, my children, not knowing a thing about this, began to chant at dinnertime, “Mama is extraordinary.”
“How’d you know this word? Why’re you saying it?”
“The word is on the water bottle you gave us!”
I squinted, tearing up, marveling at what God was showing me— that the extraordinary happens not when we try to do more, but simply when we lean in to be who we already are, even if we feel ordinary.
If you’re reading this, rmb- you’re extraordinary. Not for what you’ve done, but for who you are.💛