If there is one word that was highlighted the whole month of China for our team, it would be “joy.”
It’s hard to let the joy rise when you travel with a 45 pound pack on your back, running from place to place, making haste only to wait. But Papa says, “Choose joy!” It’s hard to let the joy rise when you’re tired and weak and sleepy, but still He says, “Choose joy!”
It’s hard to choose joy with 50+ hour travel days like this:
Tuesday 7am- we leave Kids International Ministries and take a bus to the airport
Tuesday 11am- we flight out to Hong Kong
Tuesday 1:30pm- we arrive in Hong Kong
Tuesday 3pm- we catch a bus headed to another bus
Tuesday 4pm- we take a but to mainland China, but we get dropped off at the wrong station
Tuesday 8:40pm- we book it from the subway station to the train station
Tuesday 11:50pm- we board the train headed for Lanzhou
Wednesday 12am-12am- on the train all day!
Thursday 7:43am FINALLY, we land in Lanzhou after 49.5 hours of travel!!
Papa encourages still, “Choose joy.”
It’s hard to choose joy when you have to do it all over again at the end of the month, knowing full well that you have to do it 8 more times within the next few months. The travel days could potentially get longer like this:
Wednesday 5:30 am, we leave our hostel in Beijing headed for the airport.
Wednesday 10:00 am, we fly out of Beijing to Hong Kong for our connecting flight to Johannesburg.
Wednesday 2:20 pm, we arrive in Hong Kong.
Wednesday 8:30 pm, we fly out of HK to Johannnesburg.
Thursday 7:00 am, we arrive in Johnannesburg after a 14 hour flight.
Thursday 12:30 pm, we catch a connecting bus from the airport to the bus station
Thursday 2:30 pm, after an hour and a half delay, we finally board our bus in Johannesburg to Cape Town
Friday 9:00 am, we arrive in Cape Town after a 19 hour bus ride.
Friday 11:11 am, we get off the metro line in Muizenberg, our final destination.
Friday 11:20 am, FINALLY, we arrive at our hostel after a 54 grueling hours of travel.
At the end of it Papa says, “Well done my child. You chose well!”
But the beauty of it all is that, by the end of it, joy is no longer a choice that you have to make. Joy has become something that you embrace; it’s something you live in and ride out in day-to-day life.
So when Papa says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight,” do it! 😉 I promise you He will follow through and He will reveal to you amazing things and stretch you in ways you never even imagined!
If you find yourself in an unfortunate circumstance or stressing about provision or confused at a crossroad, let the joy ride and see how God uplifts you with His grace and mercy! If you have a story or a word for me, please feel free to share! =) We can praise and give thanks to God together!!!
