This week we had month 8 debrief with the squad. I love debriefs because it we get together with the whole squad every three months and meet with our squad leaders and coaches, and get to just hang out as a squad. This debrief (5 days), we are all staying at a Country Club in Swaziland, Africa… although there is not enough room for us all to stay in buildings and most of us are tenting. I can’t complain though because this place is beautiful. It is a wildlife reservation with miles of beautiful land full of wild safari animals (don’t worry no lions). Every day, we are able to walk or run on the trails that go through the reservation, and God really gave me something special the other day. We’ve seen lots of animals here, but no one had seen the giraffe that lives here although many of us have looked all week. I was out walking one day by myself just praising God for His beautiful creation, when I saw a bunch of zebras. I went to get out my camera when I saw a long shadow in the trees… the giraffe!! I ran after it and slowly approached him. He let me get pretty close (I tried to upload the picture of him but my internet is too slow here). It was such an amazing experience, and I know that God just wanted to show me a little love that day. I never saw him again and no one on my squad did either! It was such a ‘wow, I’m in Africa’ moment!
So, while we are in debrief we hear messages, have lunch and dinner dates with each other.. but my favorite part of debrief is when we worship together. For one, I just have to say that our squad is full of extremely talented singers, and when we sing together we sound like a choir of angels. It’s beautiful. I love the free spirit we all have during worship. It’s a time to release everything and just worship with our guards down and let things go or dive deeper into the spirit. I wanted to just share a vision the Lord gave me while we were having worship the other day.
As we were praying and singing, I had this thought of one time while we were all still in high school, my sister had gone out with my cousin to a night club that in a town about 30 minutes from where I lived. We were still living with my parents at the time and my dad found out that she was there. Without hesitation, he drove to the club, walked directly in and proceeded to the middle of the dance floor to literally pull my sister out of there. Needless to say, she was not happy with the whole situation because she didn’t think she was doing anything wrong… it’s just dancing right?? But my dad saw it differently… he saw a young teenage girl in a place she shouldn’t be, surrounded by people and things she shouldn’t be around. He knew that this was not the lifestyle she should be living and what she was doing was not honoring God or building her up, so he stepped in. Just like my dad saw all of his kids grow up and change, God sees us all through all of the stages of life. And just like my father saw my sister caught in something he knew was not right, he came in to take her out of it and set her back on the right track. Isn’t this what our heavenly Father does for us? I know it is what He did for me. He saw me grow up, love Him, fail Him, pursue Him, abandon Him and get caught up in a sinful life that was not pleasing to Him. I was so caught up in the fun and ‘dancing’ that I couldn’t see that what I was doing was wrong. But just like my earthly dad, He stepped into my ‘night club’ and pulled me outta there! Just like my sister, I was confused, embarrassed, and angry because at first, I didn’t see the bigger picture that my Father saw for me, but now I do. My life could have looked much different than it does now if God hadn’t shown me mercy and saved me from myself. Praise the Lord, I’m here in Africa finding my ultimate purpose in life, and thanking God every day for what He has done in me and through me over the past 8 months. I don’t know what my future holds, but as long as I am listening and obeying my Father who is watching over me, I have nothing to be afraid of!
