Honestly, Malaysia has been a hard one to get into. This is true for a few reasons; and they’re all working together to position a question mark over this country and ministry in my world race experience. It’s been the biggest cultural shock I’ve seen yet. Cultural shock in perhaps a different version than you’re used to hearing about. It’s not in my face, but rather in small details that I’m feeling stifled from the way I usually live life and run through my days.
include, but is not limited to; having a brand new team to learn to live and bond with, being in a Muslim country for the first time in my life, living in really tight and hot living conditions, using toilets so far from the type I’m used to and keeping bathroom practices completely out of my norm, cultural differences between our hosts and us, and a very different ministry focus and schedule.Concerning ministry, it has included a lot of preaching and sharing testimonies at church gatherings, praying over people and houses, and prayer walks.
I’ve been having a hard time developing a heart for this country and these people. It’s hard to completely put a finger on why, but I think it has a bit to do with the way ministry boils down here. It’s the farthest I’ve been away from our ministry, locationally and transportationally. It’s also the farthest I’ve been from people knowing about God and being open to hearing about Him. It’s not one of those countries that you can go out and boldly proclaim the name of Christ and the story of His redemption. People won’t accept it that way. (And I think you can also get arrested going about it that way….?)
This month, in all honesty, has been the worst yet.
However,
Because this is the case, it also has the potential to be the best month.
When we let go and allow God to work through the things we hate…
when we detest it so much that we no longer hold expectations to what ‘good’ can look like, it leaves a door open for God to show you how deep and truly profound a ‘good’ month of ministry can actually look like.
There’s no more cap to the limitations in your life. God can work and be God if we allow ourselves to be the clay in the Potter’s hands.
This month it started with prayer walking. We walked around one area of SP for maybe 5 hours, 14 miles. Around and around. Seven times.
Starting out, I had a few things to pray for, but I also thought to God, “for real, what I’m I going to pray about for these people for hours?!? I don’t feel connected here nor do I feel a passion for this place. What now God?”
But as we walked, I started to see the city.
When you walk around a place, you connect to it in a unique way.
I think it’s because our world is cluttered with trains, planes and motor cars and we’re so caught up in the thought that we need to expedite the process of getting around. But we don’t see the world around us any more, we just pass it by in our busy lives.
This is why when I go to a new city, I long walk it. In every step, you’re placing your being into a space in that moment in time. It’s unique because you’re actually there. You can smell the air, feel the terrain, look around and notice anything from you point of view. You could never do that whizzing by.
I thrive on walking in this manor.
And it was in this way that God started to give me a heart for this place.
Slowly it’s building.
And like I said, this month has the potential to be the best….
