So most of you have probably seen the video I posted last week about the older couple we asked you guys to pray for. Well here is a little extra story to go along with it =) Praise Jesus!
We've finally reached our debriefing location in Nelspruitt, South Africa, where we have been relaxing, going on safaris, going to semi final South African futbol games, eating pizza, eating KFC, using actual toilets & having hot showers, sleeping in the most comfortable bunk beds ever, & enjoying other various local foods & drinks. We are all staying at a hostel, & nothing like what I had imagined a hostel to be. I imagined a run down motel like in the U.S. Man, was I wrong. This place is an OASIS! I'll post another blog & videos about our experiences here later.
On our way here, we split up into two teams for travel days. Some of us traveled a day early on a sleeper bus to Angie's house, a friend of the World Race, the same place we stayed on the way to Mozambique. When we arrived, we knew we had 48 hours of nothing but team time, down time, worship, & just sitting around. I heard the Lord tell me to read the second I got there. "What? You want me to read, God? I hate reading!!" Ha ha I went to grab my Bible, assuming he wanted me to take some quiet time. However, as I was reaching for it, I didn't feel like that's what he wanted. So I headed over to Angie's bookshelf, & I noticed a book called Prayer & Fasting.
(Side note: over the last week, I had heard the word fast a dozen random times. I knew that Lord was trying to speak to me to fast. I had only fasted one other time in my life, & that was a couple days before training camp for the World Race. I had the most amazing spiritual overcoming at camp, so I decided, why not!)
I dove into the book, reading about half of it in the days we were there (major accomplishment for me). I learned a lot about fasting in the Bible, & why God calls us to do it. One of the main things I got from the book is that when we are baptized, we receive the Holy Spirit. But when we fast, like when Jesus did in the wilderness, as well as His disciples, we receive the Holy Spirit's power to overcome the enemy in a more profound way. Therefore, I committed to fast, & eat only one meal a day (just like the fast I had done before training camp).
When we arrived at Nelspruitt, we finally had a place with free wifi! Praise Jesus!! The second I got online, I received a note from my mom telling me that some of her best friends were willing to donate to the couple that we had made the video for previously! Ha WOW Jesus! (Another side note, Peter had asked us to ask for money, but we thought it would be too hard with the short amount of days we had left in Mozambique, & the difficulty it would be to get that money in Peter's hands. Therefore, we settled just asking for prayer.) To hear that the Lord came through was so amazing! I announced it to my small squad & we rejoiced! We felt like our purpose here was being fulfilled, & our call to serve other's was becoming more real.
Fast forward later that day, my teammate Desirae checked her blog where she had posted the video as well, & even more people wanted to donate! In all, it will be more than enough money to pay for a new house for this family! HALLELUJAH!!!! Des & I had a break down, began bawling our eyes out, & rejoicing in the Lord. We wanted to watch the video just one more time to relive the joy. As we are watching it, one specific sentence stood out to me…. this couple, along with their children only have enough money to eat once a day. ONCE A DAY. It then hit me. I had been fasting everything but one meal a day for the previous two days. Wow, really God? I was fasting the two days that money came through for this family! Ha ha click, BOOM. It all made sense.
I could do nothing but share this with the entire squad. As Desirae & I lead worship that night for the team, we decided to open up the session by showing the video, telling about the Lord's provision, & beginning the night with praising His name for everything He's brought us through. In my opinion, it was the most in touch with the Lord I've felt at a worship session on the World Race thus far.
To sum it up, some other things the Lord's brought our squad through this month has been healing of sickness (malaria in particular), soar throats healed, back pain healed, psoriosis in the beginning stages of healing, bug bites healed, evil spirits cast away, sick people in hospitals on their death beds completely healed in a matter of days, strength in tiredness, healing in broken hearts, complete vulnerability & breaking of hearts for the Lord, learning how to love each other like brothers & sisters, & just learning how to live a life of servant hearts. I'm sure there is more I'm not listing, & more that is to come. All I know is I am here for many, many reasons. I'm never going to doubt that I have a purpose in the Lord's plan: just like all of you guys reading this do as well. We are all apart of a huge plan for the Lord, to bring the Kingdom to His glory, to love on the lost, & to spread the good news that we are all accepted, created in love, made to love, & can communicate to anyone with love, regardless of language barriers. Our God is so good, & He loves us so much. He wants nothing but peace & comfort for our every step. He works in such mysterious ways!! How great is He!
