Being on the World Race is a huge adjustment. I’ve experienced and witnessed a whole host of new things in this first month alone. I’ve given up showers, running water, a bed, wifi and electricity. I haven’t lived like the person I left behind in England. And it’s taking me a while to find my feet.
My team and I have been staying in the Malealea Valley in Lesotho. If you’ve never heard of it, that’s because it’s remote! We are surrounded by mountains and it’s beautiful, but since we have to walk almost everywhere, it has presented us with some challenging terrain with steep inclines and declines. I had not realised how much of a fear of heights I had, but when faced with climbing up and down a mountain to reach a remote village for a Bible study, I realised I have a huge fear of falling. With every step I felt my fear. What if I fall off the edge of this mountain? I don’t expect there’s any mountain rescue out here! And so in that moment of fear, I found myself praying, God please direct my steps. Please place my feet on solid ground. Please don’t let me fall.
The weekend before last we decided to go pony trekking. It was number one on my Lesotho bucket list and I was thrilled we got to do it. However pony trekking in Lesotho is a little different to anything I’ve experienced before, and means of course you take your pony up and down a mountain to go see a waterfall. Why not? And so again I felt my fear of heights and falling kick in again. My life was in the hands of this pony and it’s ability to find its feet up and down a steep rocky mountainside. So yet again I prayed, God please guide our ponies and keep us on solid ground.
So in a very literal sense, I have been finding my feet, but also in the adjustments and challenges that life in Lesotho has presented me with. So much of it is very far removed from my comfort zone. Learning to live in community and with my team has not always been the easiest. I have struggled with old lies from the enemy. Ministry has completely overwhelmed me on days as door to door evangelism is not something I have ever done and the people we meet are often living in very challenging circumstances.
In the same way I had to pray for God to guide my feet on the mountain, I am having to learn to lean on him and fully rely on him to guide all of my steps each and every day. Somewhere in these first few weeks I lost sight of that and tried to rely too much on myself. But being on the World Race means relying on him every single day. Because I never know what each day will bring and where my steps will take me.
“I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!” Psalm 121:1-2
