I haven’t written a blog in three months.
I haven’t written anything about Africa. Africa was rough.
I don’t know if it’s because of the season on the race I was in (months 7,8, and 9) leading me to miss the comforts of home more than usual.
I don’t know if its because I went from Asia, where the spiritual warfare is so tangible, to Africa, where even the barber shops are named something biblical.
I don’t know if it’s because the ministry we were doing was either nonexistent or completely draining.
Whatever it was, all three months I was counting down the days until I could leave that continent. And that was a weird feeling for me. There had been plenty of times on the race when I wanted to just be home, but I didn’t fully expect it in Africa. I’ve wanted to go to Africa since I was little. I was most excited to go to Africa on the race, but it was the one place I was most ready to leave.
Now, Africa wasn’t all bad. I learned and experienced some amazing things over the past three months.
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-I learned to embrace my story.
I’ve struggled a lot on the race with sharing my testimony. I know that God is faithful, but I felt like my testimony was the opposite of encouraging. But it was during a home visit in Africa when God showed me that I do have an amazing story to share with people. That my testimony is one of encouragement, of love, and of faithfulness. He showed me that many people need to hear my story so they can begin to look at their lives through Gods eyes and see the glory he is making out of their hardships.
-I learned to see how the bible is applicable to my life, even the old testament.
In kenya one of my former teammates, Lauren, and I began a plan to read through the bible before we hit American soil. I’m not going to lie, it’s been rough. In order to read the bible in 4 months I’ve been reading about 6 pages a day. That’s not always easy when reading old testament laws. But it’s been so worth it. With the help of Lauren I’ve been able to draw parallels between stories in the bible and my own life. I used to avoid the old testament, now I find myself going to it more than the new testament.
-I learned to become more confident in the words God gives me to share.
In Africa I was guaranteed to either share my testimony, preach a sermon, share a word at a small group, or speak about salvation during door to door evangelism. I began to trust that God was going to make sure that the people I was speaking with were going to hear the words He wanted them to hear. I began to realize that my performance was not what mattered, it was about sharing the word of God. God will speak through you whether you are stuttering, reading off a piece of paper, or even if you have no idea what you are saying. There were times when I was amazed at how God gave me the words to speak. Times when I was amazed at how He overcame language barriers when the audience perfectly summed up the words I had shared, confirming that things hadn’t gotten lost in translation.
-I learned that the only thing that matters is constant faith in God.
Africa is notorious for being the site of miraculous healings. I’m a skeptic when it comes to healing. Maybe it’s my Southern Baptist background. Maybe it’s from seeing times when God chooses not to heal people physically. There were times when we would pray over people with hurt legs or backs and they would be healed… Or so they said. Without any physical proof I was a doubting Thomas.
One day I was out with a teammate evangelizing and praying for people. We had been together all day. The one house he goes into while I’m talking to someone outside is the house where he literally saw someones leg grow! I was annoyed. I wanted to see an amazing miracle, one where I knew people weren’t just trying to appease me by saying they were healed. But God was teaching me that it really doesn’t matter.
I have little faith in people and whether they are telling the truth. But that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that God is a healer and that I have faith in Him. If people really are healed then praise the Lord.
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Africa was hard. I’m glad I experience it, but I’m also glad it’s over. Africa taught me I really can do everything through Christ. Africa continued to push me in my faith. Africa taught me to be thankful for the life I have. Africa brought me to a breaking point, but it was there that God revealed so much to me. I was healed in areas of my life that I didn’t even know need healing.
Africa is an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world and an experience that I hope I never have to repeat.
