Miracles of Provision
I began the Race praying to see miracles. Now I’m closing out the Race by celebrating those miracles—starting with the wonderful way the Lord has provided for me and my squad.
(1) Sweet Dreams. In 2012, I underwent an intense season of anxiety attacks in which I had to scrounge for sleep like a drowning main for air. Although at that time the Father powerfully healed me of panic and its roots, there were still evenings in the years that followed when anxiety would keep me up into the early hours of the morning. My greatest reservation in going on the Race was my fear that anxiety would resurface and I would have to endure torturous weeks or months of sleeplessness. It is with a lump in my throat and tears beginning to well up in my eyes that I now say: I have slept like a baby in the secure arms of the heavenly Father the entire Race. This entire journey, I have felt the weight of a thousand prayers from back home in the form of a blanket of peace. I am a living testimony that God gives sleep to the one He loves (Psalm 127:2).
(2) Doctor Jesus. One doesn’t realistically set out on the World Race with the expectation of not getting sick. Fragile American immune systems don’t usually fare well against the likes of malaria-carrying mosquitos or room-temperature meat! And yet, I had no had no serious or lasting illness whatsoever until halfway through month ten of the Race! Virtually every time I began to feel a sore throat or some other symptom of illness emerging, I would meet it with prayer in Jesus’ name, and the Lord would strike it down within the day! Now, to be sure, the Lord does not always grant us perfect health—as I was reminded in month ten, when the Lord humbled me, and I finally got sick! But when He does grant us a good bill of health—especially in conditions where no quantity of hand sanitizer or vitamin C will guarantee such health—we have every reason to extol the mighty power of God with David, saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:2-3)!
(3) The Lord our Hero. In month nine, our team had the privilege of traversing the country of Honduras in search of “unsung heroes”—servants of God who, though perhaps unseen by those around them, are recognized in heaven. Our goal was to locate such heroes, meet with them, encourage them, and see if they would be willing to receive future World Race teams. Early in the month, my teammate, Ashley Albert, suggested that our team not use the internet for the purpose of making contacts or finding lodging for the duration of the month as a way of more radically relying on God. I’ll be honest: my stomach churned a bit. I mean, I trust the Lord and all, but shouldn’t we make use of all the tools He’s given us—like the internet? But we stuck with Ashley’s plan. And God blessed it—big time. By my tally, the Lord Himself provided nearly twenty quality contacts for us in the span of as many days. Not once did we have to lodge in a hostel; and for most of the month, our meals were prepared for us. The missionary hospitality with which we were greeted was staggering. The entire month, it was almost as if we were being carried by invisible arms. We did all the trusting, and God did all the working. He “did awesome things that we did not look for….From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for Him” (Isaiah 64:3-4).
(4) A Providential Encounter. All her life, it seems, my teammate Anna has felt she has missed out on one opportunity after another. When we found out in Uganda that we would be ministering within reach of her best friend Twila, whom she had not seen in months, we were eager for the two to meet. But no such meeting took place. And as a matter of fact, Anna and Twila were in the same city at the same time, but communication slipped through the cracks. Anna was heartbroken. Again. Fast-forward one month: we are boarding a late-night plane to carry us from Kigali, Rwanda to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—have you ever heard of a more obscure flight?—when all of a sudden, I hear the screaming voices of two women. The one voice is coming from Anna. And the other, from another fiery redhead—her best friend, Twila. Here the two were, on the same flight, at the same time, seated right alongside one another—by chance. Let me correct that: by Providence. As I looked into Anna’s glowing eyes as we got off the plane after her three-hour long conversation with Twila, I knew that for her this was more than an exceptional experience, and far more than a happy coincidence. For her, this was a revelation of the character of God. This was the Lord reminding Anna that He is her Father, and that He is a Father who gives good gifts to His children.
Anna and Twila
(5) Manna in the Wilderness. Ethiopia—February, 2015. It was our final month to fundraise before the great, big, ominous World Race deadline, which, if unmet, threatens to send one home early. Many L-squader’s were underfunded by thousands of dollars. To make matters even more worrisome, on day one our bus took us progressively further and further away from civilization until it dropped us off at our ministry site—happily situated in the midst of a barren wilderness! We were at least two hours away from reliable internet—in the very month when for fundraising purposes it seemed we needed internet the most. Thus, as the deadline approached, we sought the Lord corporately through a 24-hour fast and through prayer, begging Him to supernaturally provide. And then, late in the evening, our squad leaders received a call and began running around, shouting excitedly. They had just received word that on the very day we were fasting, an anonymous donor had been moved by the Lord to fund the squad to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars! Within moments we were all dancing around in a circle, praising the Lord Jesus for His astonishing provision! When our anonymous donor found out what had happened, he told us via e-mail that the story “brought me, physically and emotionally, to tears. How glorious to hear how Carli and the squad were praying as we were simultaneously feeling led to give to the Squad. My heart continues to overflow with overwhelming, abundant joy and humility. To think that God would use us to do His work. What a wonderful gift to share the World Race experience with those across the globe with overflowing love that could come from the Father of Love. We serve a great God!”
To this I say, amen and amen.
An Oasis in the Ethiopian Wilderness
***Spoiler alert: More World Race miracles soon to come!
