Sometimes on the World Race, you have these moments where you’re like, “Am I really so blessed that is this really the life that God has called me to this year?” You take a moment, look at the amazing community that the Lord has surrounded you with, the breathtaking scenery and creation that we have the opportunity to take in, and the honor of serving the poor and the marginalized that has been given to you…and you have a “is this really my life?” moment with God.
I had my first one of those on Friday.
Yup. Friday. I’m in month 5 of the race and I’m finally getting it. I’m finally seeing that this goes far beyond this year. Far beyond the financial support my family & friends so graciously blessed me with. Far beyond the 11 countries we minister in. Far beyond the faces of my friends who have turned into family.
As I hiked up the side of a mountain overlooking the entire Kathmandu valley alongside my squad, I kept thinking of how sore I was from all of my workouts and runs this week. Of how thirsty I was, and how one water bottle for this day out wasn’t enough, but I didn’t have room in my backpack for more. I found myself griping, both internally, and to anyone who would listen. Looking back, my selfishness astounds me.
As we approached our first clearing, our guides/translators told us that we would stop here to pray and to worship. We knew that we had a long climb to go to the top of the mountain, where there was a Hindu temple, the highest one in the Kathmandu valley region.
I looked up and saw a forest, and I looked behind and saw the open valley. It was there the Lord reminded me that He loves His children in Nepal with a radical, all-consuming, pursuing love that I could never comprehend. The same love that I experienced when I first understood how desperately I needed Him, is extended to the Nepali people by the Father. Even amidst the tragedies of the recent earthquake, He is making Himself known as the hope of the world, and the hope for Nepal.
I was stared in the face with my selfishness.
We had just left a brick factory where a large community had lost the very little they already had. Their makeshift homes consisted of bricks that literally dissolved to dust in your hands when you picked them up. Seeing the need and the pain, but the incredible hope and resilience of the Nepali people humbled me in ways I can barely describe.
I watched the people in this community who had been traumatized by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that took the very little they had right from under them, a people who had lost loved ones, rise up…they were already rebuilding.
How often do things in my life seem to “fall apart”…and how long do I wait to start “picking up the pieces?” I experience a struggle, a difficulty, or a loss, and I just fall to pieces. It takes ages for me to actually come to the feet of the Father with a humble and thankful heart for the many blessings He continues to give me. My selfishness, my ego, my entitlement…they all come bubbling up to the surface. I don’t choose joy, I don’t choose gratitude.
But Jesus is faithful, He is good, He is sure. When the ground seems unstable, He is an anchor for my soul. And when the earth is literally unstable, He provides a way to rebuild, and the provision to move forward in hope and trust that He is good and His promises are true.
After ascending the mountain, and praying at the base of this temple for the people of Nepal to know the hope that is only found in knowing Jesus, prayer walking up and down the countless steps, we headed back to our rendezvous point where we would catch our bus back to our host home. As we were coming up on our last turn, I saw a beautiful elderly woman sitting in a doorway and was immediately captivated. I knew I had to speak with her.
I was at the back of our group, and fortunately there was one translator still with me (no accident there, hey Jesus)…so I stopped, knelt down beside her, and spoke with her for a few minutes. After learning of her story, her pain, and her poverty, I asked her if I could pray for her. I handed her my last bottle of water, placed my hand on her shoulder, and prayed. I begged the Holy Spirit to provide for her in miraculous ways. I begged for Jesus to make Himself so incredibly known and present in her life. That she would know the comfort that only He provides.
As soon as I said “Amen,” her husband called from just out of sight in the bed-sized room they lived in. He asked me to pray for him, because the whole left side of his body didn’t work the way it was supposed to, and he was in constant pain in his arm and leg. I immediately obliged, sat at his feet, laid my hands on him…and prayed. I asked the Lord to do a miraculous work of healing in his body, that he would know and experience the living God through a physical miracle in his life.
And when I finished praying, through the translator with me, I shared the gospel with both of them. Toli, the wife, and Durbas, the husband. And as soon as I got it out, they interjected in Nepali, “we are Christians!” I came to find out through the rest of our conversation that they are the only Christians in that neighborhood, but their families are all believers. I was so encouraged by the opportunity to have such a brief, yet incredibly powerful opportunity to pray for this couple who had nothing but the clothes on their backs, and a bed-sized room that the local schoolhouse let them sleep in.
As they thanked me countless times, I had to leave to meet up with my group that was catching a bus. Walking away from them in the moment was incredibly challenging. I wanted nothing more than to give them every penny I had, every piece of clothing I own, and feed them the food I had back at our house.
But the Holy Spirit reminded me that He asked me to do one thing, and I did it. He asks merely for obedience.
And this abundance that I experienced in this moment came out of that obedience. Not the “feel good” part of praying for someone or giving them perhaps the only fresh water they would drink all day. True abundant living comes from the satisfaction of serving the living God in my words and my actions. He is the only One who fills my cup. He is the only One who can provide for the needs of Toli and Durbas. And I have the privilege of serving whomever God places in my path each moment of each day, alongside of incredible community that pushes me to look more and more like Jesus, even when it hurts. This is the greatest and richest blessing I have ever experienced.
Please continue to pray for the Nepali people, for the rebuilding efforts after the earthquake, and for God to be their only source of comfort and hope and peace. Because the things of this world will pass away, but the everlasting hope of knowing God will never be shaken.
