When we were in Nicaragua about a month and a half ago, I received a call from our squad leader, Cara letting me know that after prayerfully considering, our squad’s leadership wanted to offer me a leadership position on our squad called the Unsung Heroes Coordinator. I was slightly caught off guard as I had forgotten the position was open but, was excited by the offer. I love the Unsung Heroes program! Fourty-eight hours later, I officially accepted.
The Unsung Heroes (UH) Program is used by Adventures in Missions (AIM) in conjunction with the World Race to find, connect, and network with possible future hosts and determine how we could partner with them to provide lift to their organization/ministry’s efforts to further the Kingdom of God.
My role as UH Coordinator is to manage the UH Program on the field as my squad carries out forming these relationships. I train and equip teams on my squad as they are assigned an Unsung Heroes month and serve as the primary link between the UH manager in the AIM office and the racers on the field.
A few days later, our team found out that WE had been assigned an Unsung Heroes month.
We knew this would mean a few things:
No ministry contact.
No host.
No given place to stay.
Kingston, Jamaica as our starting point.
$6 per person/ per night lodging budget to work with.
We started researching lodging and quickly found that it wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought to find somewhere to stay. Everything in that area, even in surrounding areas, was double or more out of our price range. Even tenting was over our budget!
We prayed.
We sought out other World Race Jamaican hosts that don’t have teams right now, had our squadmates email their Jamaican hosts for potential contacts, cold emailed churches, reached out to friends and family on Facebook, checked our World Race database called The Log and we found nothing.
Time ticked away. We were five days away from Jamaica, then four, then three. At that point, our squadmate, Madi’s ministry host had mentioned that he had a contact for us and it looked like it was going to work out. Then, just like that, 48 hours before we left on a plane for Jamaica, Madi told us that her host said the contact fell through and wrote in his email that it would be a literal MIRACLE if we found a place to stay at that point so last minute, especially in our budget.
We brought it to our squad. We prayed knowing that our God is faithful.
We opened our search to cities outside of Kingston.
Our friends and family back home started getting worried. Though there were many praying for us and with us, we also heard many comments like,
“I’ve been feeling so anxious.”
“I couldn’t sleep thinking about it.”
“If all else fails, here is a bit of money to help you out.”
Though well intentioned at the start, these comments were lined with fear and lack of trust that the Lord was going to provide.
Sure, from a worldly perspective, our efforts seemed nuts.
However, 24 hours before we were to get on a plane, a squadmate put us in contact with a best friend of a friend of a friend of a ministry contact, said squadmate did ministry with 4 years ago in Jamaica. Her name was Jacqui. She said she would love to host us in our budget in the heart of Kingston and would cook for us, 3 meals a day. Jacqui had two rooms to offer us and her house had Wi-Fi for us to use for training and research (so we didn’t have to spend money on cafes for Wi-Fi).
WHAT. We could not contain our excitement!
Not only did God give a place to sleep in our budget, He gave us much more than we asked for.
That is just like Him.
A similar situation occurred about a week later as we were looking for the next place for us to stay. We had been praying into where God wanted us and it was a consensus among five of us that we weren’t supposed to move on from around Kingston area yet but, it was time for us to move from the specific place we were staying as we wanted to stay true to our word and not overstay our welcome.
We poured ourselves into prayer and over the internet researching churches, ministries, Airbnb’s, bed and breakfasts, hostels, anything we could possibly find. We cold called/ emailed/ met with about 35 possibilities.
Many did not respond. Some said they had nothing available. A few laughed at our budget.
A friend from home told my squad leader’s parents, “Do you know how dangerous Kingston is, especially for 7 white American girls?”
There is that fear again.
We continued to press in and pray. We had no idea what God was orchestrating and as time passed we had a departure date from our first lodging place but, nowhere to go. All we knew was what He had said and we were seeking after obedience.
About 24 hours before we had planned to leave, we received confirmation that we could stay with the aunt and uncle of a friend from our squad leader’s (HB) church. Her parents happened to run into friends at their church and got to talking about how HB was with our team for the month in Jamaica. The friend said her Aunt Cherry lived here and loves to host people.
Next thing you know, we are being warmly received by Cherry (Mama) and Lindel in Portmore, Jamaica. What wonderfully caring and hospitable hosts.
At first, we were a bit concerned we would be too far from potential new hosts for AIM that are in Kingston. But, the only host that got back to us for an appointment during those few days happened to be in Portmore. Isn’t God just so good? EQ and I could meet with that potential host and go see their Center at no additional cost to our transportation budget.
Now I’m not going to sit here and lie to you.
I can’t say that I didn’t have fleeting moments of stress in my chest in the hours before we had a solid place to sleep in the days before we arrived in Jamaica.
But, I know my God is faithful and trustworthy. I have had so many opportunities in my life and especially on the race, where I have seen Him come through “last minute” AKA His perfect timing.
This month, though, has been different. It has launched my trust of God into a new arena, into a new playing field entirely.
Never have I had to rely on the Lord for a place to sleep before. Could our team have accepted money from friends and family to supplement our budget to make sure we had a place to stay? Absolutely.
But, when we feel Him saying don’t take it and trust me, what would that say about our reliance on God if we do it anyways? How can He come through in our lives and show us His power if we are never in a situation where we NEED Him? I’m not saying it is a sin to have money or to use the resources God has given us to fulfill His will as He leads us.
But, where is our reliance? What are we depending on to come through for us?
Ourselves (how hard we can work)? Someone else? A material thing like money? God?
Do we allow ourselves to sit in the uncomfortable and have our faith stretched, knowing without a doubt, that our God will come through? Or do we throw ourselves a life preserver, patting ourselves on the back for being prepared and self-sufficient?
We are called to be dependent. So, take a deep breath and don’t fear.
He doesn’t fail. Ever.
