“Mzungu! Mzungu!”
For the past month, everywhere I go, this word is shouted from the mouths of adorable Zambian children, and whispered under the breath of adults.
It means white person.
At first, from the children, it was cute. My teammates and I would even make fun of ourselves with this word at times. But when some of these children with whom we have formed relationships with still call us, “Mzungu”, even though we have told them our names time and time again, a type of identity crisis can start to form.
Is that really all you see in me?
Is that all I am to you?
I use your name, can’t you use mine?
You can even start to doubt all the rock picking and seed planting you have done.
Am I not making the impact I thought?
Am I not loving you enough?
But then, when I was walking back from ministry the other night with my teammate Mallori, as children all around us screamed, “Mzungu!”, God revealed something to me.
Daughter, I know your name. Isn’t that enough for you?
“But now thus says the LORD, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'”- Isaiah 43:1
And suddenly, that was enough.
I didn’t need dozens of children to know my name.
My Creator, the God of the universe, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and Omega knows not only my name, but He knows me. He knows my heart.
“But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” – 1 Corinthians 8:3
My desire for these children to stop calling me “Mzungu” and start calling me Mikayla quickly faded. That was not my reason for coming to Zambia at all. When I leave at the end of this month, if they all forget me, I don’t care.
I do hope though, that they will remember the love of Christ.
That they remember the hope that comes with loving Him back.
That they remember peace that consumes your heart when you trust Him fully.
And that He, the God of everything, not only knows their names or how many hairs line their heads, but that He knows them personally.
And He loves them unconditionally.
