African culture is a beautiful thing. The way they unashamedly worship, the way they dance and shout to the Lord, the way they speak with praise and thanksgiving always on their lips, the way they live with such passion and zeal, this is what I was excited to come to Africa for. I expected to be changed by the raw beauty of African culture but I (wrongfully) didn’t expect for the Lord to show up in ways that would change my perspective so profoundly.
Our God is gracious in His character, full of abundant patience and love. The grace of God will mark month 5 in Malawi for me. God gently and graciously showed up daily to remind me just how big He is and just how unworthy I am. I spent the entire month in constant awe of the Lord. One of my many favorite verses is found in Psalms, where it says;
“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands” (63:3)
I strive to live each day with both my heart and spirit in postures of praise. Jesus is always worthy of our praise, He is always worthy of thanksgiving, and He is always cause for rejoicing. I want my life to reflect these things. But before last month I was trying to do these things from my own strength and from my own limited understanding of God. I had good intentions but I had failed to realize that it all starts with Jesus and it all ends with Jesus. We don’t praise God because we can, because in reality in our human nature and without the inner workings of the holy spirit we would not worship God; He gives us the ability to worship and He gives us the reasons to praise.
God revealed my flawed thinking in the most beautiful way. He showed up every day in the smallest moments to the miraculous moments showing me the reasons I had to praise Him. It made me aware of how frequently I over look and even dismiss His hand in my life. I can’t tell you how many times I was so taken a back by God last month that I just sat overtaken by awe..
I seen the beauty of God in the way the moonlight danced on the water of Lake Malawi
I seen His majesty in creation in the lush green mountains
I seen His power manifest in the healing of my own body
I grasped a little more the significance of an all-knowing God through the grandness of the stars. The fact that Gods knowledge is not only spiritual but scientific was something I had never given enough thought too.
These are just a few from a multitude of ways God showed up for me in Malawi. He moved me time and time again to worship because I was in such a state of awe. And I’m convinced that’s the only place we’re suppose to worship from.
