Tamale is not my dream destination. It is not a glamourous city where it has nightlife and shopping malls and beautiful parks. I mean, just yesterday, some friends invited me out and we couldn’t choose where to eat because we only have a certain number of restaurants, and we were/are getting bored of them. Yet, I have had such joy in being here. Even though, I am asked for things, even though women don’t remember the verses, even though I get sick, even though, it is just not easy. Still, joy is in it, it permeates.
One thing about God…wait, let me back up. My favorite verse is Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” So, with God, as I delight in what He is doing in me and around me, He fills me with Himself and becomes whom I desire. Then he tops it off with other things I desire! For instance, I love Culvers restaurant in America. I love the burgers and the frozen custard. Ohhhh, the creaminess of it all. (I am salivating.) Ghana has ice cream. Well, I am not sure I would consider it ice cream. It comes in this little packet about the size of a chocolate bar. You can buy it on the roadside or in a shop. There are people who ride bicycles around selling them. It is frozen, if you get it before noon, otherwise it is a bit melted. You bite off a little corner of the plastic and suck the ice cream in. But, for someone who grew up on a dairy farm, someone who would have dinner in the summer consisting of a milkshake, someone who had to drink a glass of milk before water or Kool-Aid, knows the difference between good ice cream and not so good. When people ask me, “What do you miss about the US?” I have some things, like family, of course, but another one is ice cream. Now, I am saying all this because in Tamale…last year…we got… (drumroll please) …an ice cream shop!! I was very hesitant about trying it. How could it be nice? It will probably come out of a machine, a sugary soft serve. It cannot compare to home. I was very skeptical. But I went. They had about 6 flavors. They also make their waffle cones there, so I bought a scoop in a cone. WOW!! It went beyond what I was thinking. It was creamy, it was soft, it is the closest thing to frozen custard on this side of the ocean! I was like, “Lord, you knew of my love for ice cream. You knew it delights me. And you made it come to Tamale.” I asked the workers about the shop. One of them has a brother in Belgium. The ice cream is his recipe. It is delicious.
God knew I would love it. He knew it would delight me. He didn’t even bring it to the capital city of Accra. He brought it to my city, my Tamale city, the town I serve him in. It is such a small thing, but it is yet another affirmation of my good God. What kind of God is this that would even care about my desires, my wants, and other bonus items?! No wonder I have joy. I get to walk alongside a God who delights over me, a God who has joy and pours it out on me.
So, maybe, when people ask, “What do you miss?” I will just say, “family”. Maybe God will bring them too? 😊
