Firestarters: A Tale of God's Hope and Redemption

By Ashley Perkins

Ashley Perkins was twenty-three years old when she left her small, rural Texas hometown for a life in the African bush. Responding to the undeniable call of God, Ashley chose to leave all she knew to love, teach, and serve the children of Restoration Gateway orphanage. Located in the region of Northern Uganda, which had been terrorized for over twenty years by Joseph Kony and the LRA, the children of Restoration Gateway had seen pain, loss, and sorrow many have never known. However, God had a new plan for their lives; a plan of hope and redemption.

In her year of living among children forced to be adults before their time, Ashley learned when God restores His children- He restores and then some. Firestarters is a true story of the darkest of pasts being renewed and used for Gods glory. It is the story of children who have been set apart to set the world ablaze with the message of Gods hope, grace, and love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512751383

Ashley Perkins

Ashley Perkins grew up in a small town outside of Ft. Worth, Texas. She moved to Austin where she studied at the University of Texas, earned her bachelor’s degree in religious studies, and indulged her hippie heart with the best breakfast tacos and music in the state. She later moved back to Ft. Worth to continue her studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning her masters of theological studies. After a year living abroad in the bush of Uganda on the cliffs above the Nile River, Ashley felt God calling her once again to her beloved Texas and began to grow in her a new passion of helping women live authentically. God turned this passion into a lifestyle blog (thegloryandgrace.com) where women can find encouragement to be who they are … bravely. When Ashley isn’t blogging or encouraging others to walk in God-given confidence, she can be found sharing large meals with those she loves most, checking out local live music, or simply dreaming up her next creative project. Let’s be friends! Follow Ashley on Instagram (@gloryandgraceblog) or like her page on Facebook (Glory and Grace). Also make sure to subscribe to her blog, thegloryandgrace.com.

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Copyright © 2016 Ashley Perkins.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5137-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5138-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016912327

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/26/2016

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Classroom

Part 1

Africa

Chapter 1 The Adventure

Chapter 2 Home

Chapter 3 A Day at the Water Park

Chapter 4 One of Those Days

Chapter 5 The Sleepover

Chapter 6 Small Fish

Chapter 7 The Almost Angel

Chapter 8 Francis, Jonathan, and the White Ants

Chapter 9 The Color Chart

Chapter 10 Quinto, the Wall, and the End

Part 2

Letting Go

Chapter 11 Door Jam

Chapter 12 Timeless

Chapter 13 Again

Chapter 14 The New Torchbearer

About the Author

To my God and Savior, without whom I have nothing, I give back to You this, the first fruits of my labor.

Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

—Exodus 23:19

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To my parents, who have never stopped believing in me.

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To Mrs. Berry, who first taught me the joy of being a wordsmith.

Acknowledgments

I could fill this page with the names of those who helped, encouraged, and inspired me to finish this little project of mine. To all those who pushed me to do what you knew I could and I didn’t quite believe in yet, thank you. To you who made me stick with my goals and asked about progress each and every week, thank you. To you who edited and fixed my atrocious grammar, thank you. To those who read and gave feedback in the early stages, thank you. To all those who believed in me and told me so each step of the way, thank you. Each of you—and you know who you are—gave some of yourself to help me obediently follow the call of God, and for that I am forever grateful. Finally, to my darling children of Restoration Gateway, thank you for the laughs and tears, for the adventure of a lifetime, and most of all, thank you for allowing me into your hearts and for letting me be a little piece of your story. I love you.

Introduction

The Classroom

The sound of silence filled up the room—beautiful, golden silence. It wasn’t true hear-a-pin-drop silence. It was more of twelve little students all at once, all sitting in their wooden desks, actually working—a teacher’s dream.

Pencil. Mark. Sniffle. Rustle. Scooch. Cough. Whisper. Drop. Yawn. Giggle. It was a symphony. After weeks of yelling, bickering, fighting, crying, talking, laughing, this musical of my classroom was a delight. As it played, the bright yellow sun danced across the walls. It’s warmth calm and cozy. Mixed with the music of my worker