This story originates all the way back to our training camp in August and comes full circle on January 2nd. During our training camp in August one of our mentors, Austin Ulsh, gave us a white board and told us to write down what we wanted to either grow in or share with the world over our race. Over some serious praying and time to think I wrote down ‘Loveable Heart’ and thought that was that. Well during our launch in October he surprised not only my squad but every squad that was launching in October with keys. Each key had a phrase on it and my phrase was of course ‘Loveable Heart.’ He challenged us to pray everyday over our keys and when we found someone that God was telling us to give our key to we would and we would also explain the meaning behind.
Fast foward to month 3 in Nakhata Bay, Malawai. Our 2nd day there we met what turned out to be a truly amazing woman named Grace from Alaska who had such a strong relationship with God. She began to tell us pretty much everything we needed to know to help us that month. In our first meeting she also began to spill some of her life out to us which was both shocking and yet impressive at the same time. After talking to her for a few hours we went throughout our day and every so often we would see her throughout our days. One special day that I talk about in my blog called “That Was God” we began to talk to her and this wasn’t a normal talk. She told us almost every hard thing that she was going through and it literally broke my heart. I won’t go into detail for obvious reasons but it wasn’t good and I began to pray for her the minute I left her restaurant.
That day changed my heart for her and her baby son and I saw a new side of her that I appreciated a whole lot. She’s so sweet, kind, vulnerable and willing to change her life for God. I mean she left home in Alaska and moved to Malawi, Africa for God because He called her there. That’s nothing but faith in the Lord if you ask me. Her heart has nothing but love in it and it’s so easy to see. I wanted to encourage her to never lose her faith in the Lord even through hardships and to continue to share her ‘Loveable Heart’ with the rest of world and so I finally gave up my key. A key necklace may not sound like a lot but to her it obviously meant a lot and I could tell due to the tears in her eyes and the big bear hug she gave me. Grace if you’re reading this keep pushing on and I want to encourage the rest of my readers to keep pushing through the hard times!
Mark 6:50 “Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid”
