When I first signed up for the World Race, obviously I knew it was going to be a crazy adventure. Well I’m 8 months in and I can confirm, it’s been a crazy adventure.
I’ve experienced a lot of different things this year. I’ve Heard tons of cool stories. I’ve been in situations where I was thanking God I had a life, because moments before I wasn’t sure I was going to. I’ve been so homesick that I wanted to leave the race. I’ve had freak outs about the race ending because I have no idea what I’m going to do when I get home. I’ve laughed until I cried. I’ve been so angry that I’ve cried. I’ve had heart to hearts with team mates. I’ve had disagreements with team mates. You name it, I’ve been through it. But there’s one thing, one feeling I’ve experienced while being on the race that sticks with me the most, especially while being in Africa these last few months. Humility. I’ve been humbled…. Over and over again.
Honestly, Africa has been a country that has left me humbled daily. There are so many moments that leave me speechless thinking, Jesus make me more like them. They have so little, yet give so much expecting nothing back.
One of our main ministries here is evangelism. We get to go to people’s houses and pray with them, encourage them and most importantly tell them about Jesus.
We got to this one house that greeted us with lots of smiling children playing and a women who had a big smile on her face. You could tell they didn’t have much. The kids clothes were ripped and there was no furniture in her house.
She seemed really excited to see us. She invited us in and told us to have a seat on a mat that was
Rolled out on the ground. We started off by introducing ourselves. It wasn’t that long into our conversation that we knew she was hurting and broken. She was going through a lot and she began opening up about it.
She began to tell us about her life. How her and her husband don’t have a good relationship. How he is abusive and controls everything. One day he was so angry he started to burn all the children’s clothes, furniture and other household items. We all sat there in awe. We knew the only thing that could fix this is Jesus. So Stacie started to encourage her, Juliet started to as well. They began sharing the goodness of Jesus. The last thing that they encouraged her in was forgiveness. She needed to forgive her husband even though it was tough. Even though he had caused them so much pain she understood forgiveness was a good place to start. She knew Jesus was the only one that could fix this and it started with forgiveness. We prayed and started to sing our God is an awesome God, over and over again.
As we continued to sing, she walked into her kitchen and grabbed something that looked like beef. It was actually cow liver. She started cutting it into pieces. It wasn’t long until we realized she was giving it to us as a gift. As a sacrifice. We knew how valuable it was to them and we knew they didn’t have much for themselves. She started to cut it into small pieces. We thought maybe she was going to give us a piece, but no. She kept putting it into a plastic bag until it was all gone. Wow. It’s cool how God spoke through us that day that changed her life. A few pieces of the scraps fell onto the ground and her daughter picked it up and ate it. Humbling. Her kids where hungry, she was hurting and broken inside but she realized what Jesus could and would do in her life that day. She offered everything she physically had this day. Would I be able to do this? It just made me so grateful and got me thinking. I was humbled.
Here is another story that really stuck with me while being on the race. It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Malawi Africa. I woke up in my tent and was getting ready to go to church. Paige and I got placed with a pastor, and we were going to the church he pastored so we could preach and share our testimonies.
It started off normal. We crammed into a small van that fits sometimes up to 19 people. Then we hopped on the back of a bicycle for a few miles till we got to our destination.
But before we even left for the day he asked us a question that left Paige and I kind of speechless. I might of even thought he was kidding and asked over and over again; are you serious. I want you to name my Granddaughter he said. I’m sorry, what? Yes
I have been waiting for you guys to come for 3 days because I want you to name our granddaughter. After 20 minutes of being in awe, we realized he was for real and Paige came up with a name. Zala, Which means “the beautiful one.” So that day she named a 3 day old, beautiful girl Zala. I don’t know about you, but my sisters and I would always be coming up with names that we would love to name our kids one day. Imagine that right being taken away and given to a complete stranger to do for you…. it was such a cool experience but also got me thinking.
Its the pastor who gave us his last 13 kwatcha so we could buy rice for dinner. It’s Juliet who believed God would provide enough material to make our whole team dresses… And He did, so she made 8 beautiful dresses in a week. It’s the food and fellowship that is constantly provided for us after church services. It’s our host mom, who was literally giving away her clothes to us so she could leave us with a gift. It’s the words of constant thanks from the people we get to pray over, it’s the cow liver that she sacrificed when thats all she had and its the pastor who waited 3 days for us to get to Malawi so Paige could name his granddaughter.
Maybe I missed it? Maybe the things that bring me Joy, that needs to be passed on to others more often so they can experience it to. Maybe that thing I swear I would miss to much if I got rid of, wouldn’t be missed that much at all.
Now I’m not saying let someone else name your child. I’m asking, if we had to, would we be ok if someone else did?
How can it be that something I hold so tightly to, is given so freely by a stranger. It just makes me think a little more. How can I love well? When I get home, or even while I’m still on the field, what can I do to make people think… Hmmm now that’s love. There’s something different about her.
What if its just a few minutes of our time to speak truth over someone. I bet it could change someone’s life. A hug, a smile or a thank you. I dare you to take a chance and see the blessings God will pour back on you.
Let’s love boldly.
Matthew 22:36-39
Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? He said to him, you shall love The Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Beautiful Zala.
