Being in Malaysia for the past 5 days, I have been more aware of the provision of the Lord more than I have before in my life. I don’t know why I was so surprised by how open my eyes became when I am desperately trying to see. I will give you an example of what I mean.
My team left the airport with only the name, address, and a map to a hostel we found on the internet in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Here we go, this is life as we know it.
After quite the experience, we have loaded the bus and after about an hour we make it to the bus stop in Kuala Lumpur and for the very first time on the race we are alone. In the city, at night, with massive, heavy packs..what was I doing there? I wanted nothing but to be at home, on my couch, with 4 safe walls around me and a delicious home cooked meal from my dad! But we had to start walking, and I had the map. I do not have the best sense of direction in the States so trying to lead my team to a place we have never seen before in a city we have never stepped foot in before was going to be a challenge. I honestly cannot tell on the map which direction we are supposed to go so I just pick one, we go right and end up at a sketchy dead end, looks like I picked the wrong way. But this is when the Lord stepped in and took over. I stopped the first two white people I saw, hoping they spoke English, and asked them if they knew where the particular hostel was we were headed to. They looked at the map and pointed us in the opposite direction of where we were walking, telling us exactly where to go. That was when I started praying, why I waited so long I don’t know. It is a completely unknown city, with unknown people, and we have no idea how safe we actually are. We are tired, hot, and sore from the all that crap we wish we didn’t pack. I had never felt the need for protection and direction so badly in my life and the only way we would receive that was if God provided. It was about a 20 minute walk that felt like hours, passing people laying on the street and taxi’s yelling at us for a ride, but we finally turn the corner and it was a moment of overwhelming joy and peace when we saw the name of the hostel on the side of a building. It was real, it existed, and we made it.
I was so overwhelmed from being lost and scared but so completely comforted and filled with praise because it truly was the Lord who was in charge the whole time. So of course, I started crying. Right at the counter as we were checking in, I just cried. What is wrong with me, is this what an identity crisis looks like? That was the first moment that I realized that my God is truly with me. He is in front and beside and behind me and he will provide. He will remain faithful. He will remain constant. Not just for today, but for tomorrow, for the rest of the race, and always.
He has been providing all along, I just needed my eyes opened to notice it and give praise and credit where it is due. In the days that have followed that first night, my team has experience the truth of that so clearly in beautiful ways every single day. We cannot post on public sites much specific information because Malaysia has strict religious laws, but it is enough to say that the Lord is at work here and he is blessing us greatly. We see how he is providing divine opportunities and conversations all the time and I am so excited to see what the rest of this month looks like because this was only just the beginning.
