Jogging down the dirt road that leads to El Shaddai, my feet move to the rhythm playing in my ears. Glancing behind me, an irresistible smile creeps up at the sight of the crowd of children running behind me. Every morning little figures sprint out from behind their stick fences where they stand waiting for me, giggling and panting as their little legs scurry to catch my pace.
It’s moments like these that I’ll treasure forever.
***
Wrapped in thick knitted blankets with steamy cups of cocoa in hand, ten bundled figures gather in the assortment of couches and chairs that are pulled close together. Leaning forward to hear over the thundering rain with eyes flaming, each of the rugged crew throws their heart into the discussion of Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Testament. Something clicks inside my head, and the ingeniousness of God’s plan overwhelms me.
It’s in these moments that I'm hit with the greatness of our God.
***
Thirty pairs of soaked feet trudge up the side of mountain through the thick white blanket of fog. As the cloud shifts, rocky cliffs emerge into sight from the vast whiteness, jutting as high and as deep as the eye can see. The morning ‘walk’ with the orphan children had turned into a four hour climb in the drizzling rain to the top of the highest local peak. As a numb little hand catches my own, I can’t help but notice the child’s footwear is nothing but a pair of pink bathroom slippers. But as I look into her eyes, an ear to ear smile covers her face and she whispers, “thank you for taking us walking”.
It’s in these moments that I’m humbled to the core.
***
In a dimly-lit, one-room cabin, five women stretch out their hands to touch the one in the center. They raise their voices on their sister’s behalf as the Spirit hovers thick in the atmosphere. Chains creak, locks break and one by one shackles of the heart fall off as the sounds of freedom rise in the air.
These are the moments that redefine our lives forever.
***
These are the moments that I cherish- moments where I’m floored by God’s power, where ancient walls crumble, my pride dissipates, heart shifts and mindset alters.
It’s in this collage of moments that little by little I am changing.
These are the moments that flash through my mind as my mom asks me to tell her about Swaziland.
But how to put them into words?
There’s the surface details- the orphanage on a mountain, the Bible studies in the cabin, the team prayer huddles- but then there’s the real stuff, the things God is doing inside of me.
So often, it’s a hodge-podge of scattered emotions, snapshot memories and wordless ponderings in my heart that maybe one day I’ll be able to sort through and understand.
These are the moments that I’ll remember
when I lay on a couch at home reminiscing,
trying to pinpoint what exactly happened that year I went on a race around the world.
