When it hits it changes everything. It shifts things and moves them around; it will change your perspective and bring a new understanding.
It was the start of our seventh month on the Race and we had just gotten off the plane in Malaysia. We were on a bus traveling to our hostel for a couple of weeks in Kuala Lumpur as a squad. I looked around me and all of a sudden was overcome with excitement for the month, for Malaysia. At the moment I had no idea where this excitement was coming from because Malaysia wasn’t originally a country that I was very excited for. I wasn’t looking forward to it only because I didn’t really know anything about it, or what to expect. So, when I felt that surprising excitement, I knew in my spirit that something big was going to happen during our month in Malaysia and I was eager to see what the Lord had for us.
We spent our month in Changlun Malaysia, which is a tiny town really far north of Malaysia about 8 kilometers from the Thai border. It was in this little town that I experienced an earthquake. Ok, so it wasn’t really an earthquake like you would think. The earth didn’t shake. It didn’t actually move at all, but I was moved in a way that an earthquake would shake things up.
On this journey of the World Race I have been learning and seeking truth about all three parts of God: God as a Father, God as a Son and the Holy Spirit of God. The three parts of the Trinity are distinct and yet very much One. The part that I had the most questions and did the most seeking for answers on was the Holy Spirit. I know that the Holy Spirit is the Lord’s power that He seals in me but there were so many questions that I had: Who is He, how does He work, how is He in me? I wanted to know more and experience more I just wasn’t sure what that looked like or what ‘more’ even meant. So I asked the One who has all the answers. I spent time in prayer asking the Lord to show me more of Him in ways that I hadn’t experienced and since He is always faithful this time was no exception.
My month in Malaysia I experienced the Holy Spirit in new ways, I heard from the Lord in different, clear ways, and I felt His Presence upon me in a way that sent me into real love. It was like I truly felt Him through God the Father’s love, the Son and Savior’s love, and the love and power of the Holy Spirit, I understood and felt Him fully for the first time and fell more in love with who He constantly is!
This month my experience was like an earthquake in the way that my perspective, my love, my pursuit of the Lord, and my ability to receive real, true, full love in who He is has completely been changed, and in the best way! Another thing with earthquakes is that there are always aftershocks that follow the initial shake. I fully believe that month 7 wasn’t the peak of my Race or spiritual journey, that there is more. The next 4 months, I believe, will be aftershocks. I believe that the Lord will continue to show up in radical ways, that He will continue to teach me more about His character and that He will continue to challenge me and pour His love out in beautiful and life changing ways!
