I sat slumped in a chair at the hospital between our ministry host and my teammate Kierra. Kim was on the phone with our mentor trying to figure out upcoming travel plans, while simultaneously asking for advice in our current situation. Our host was arguing with the lab technician, who in turn would attempt to speak to Kierra in the little English he knew. Kierra was having none of the bull he was trying to feed us, and advocated for my well-being like my life was hanging in the balance. In the little French I know, I could understand our host telling the gentleman to just do what we were asking. Vanessa was in the hall already contacting our health insurance company to make a claim, and Christa and Kelly were back home making food and trying to gather money for this fiasco. I just sat there having one of those, “Jesus, you can take me now,” moments.
My thoughts at the time were I just wanted it to be over, but also for someone to shoot me up with some medicine in a hurry. My heart, however, rejoiced when I understood that the pain felt in that chair had no comparison to the unconditional love I was hit with surrounded by those people.
Community is hard, ya’ll. When you sign up for the World Race, you sign up for an arranged marriage (as my team likes to call it) to people you barely even know, and you HAVE to make it work. You can’t do the race alone, and for that matter, who wants to do this life alone? Not I. So, feedback we give, the hard conversations we have, and the sacrifices we make.
I’m not just grateful for the tasks my teammates did for me and each other in that hectic situation, but for how Jesus just shone through them. Everyone’s personalities and gifts came together to love one another how we needed, and that was confirmation from the Lord. He has anointed this team, we are doing this thing together, and it’s going to work!
I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad I got malaria. It’s been a super sweet season in which the Lord is teaching me to rest and be loved. It’s hard to love others when you do life with them 24/7, but sometimes it’s even harder to walk in the confidence that you can still receive it, too.
