Last month I was living in Lesotho, a country that is landlocked in the middle of South Africa. Lesotho is known for its mountainous terrain and shepherds. While the next blog I post will focus on all the logistics of Lesotho and what my team and I did while there, this blog is going to be a little different. It is more about what I discovered in the mountains: an overwhelming sense of peace.
My team and another team were both going to be living at one location during the month of October in Lesotho. These two teams had already lived together in Thailand for an all-squad month, in Botswana as the two of us, and again in Eswatini when we were all together as a full squad. Prior to Lesotho, when I heard that we would be living with the other team again for the fourth month in a row, I was frustrated. I wanted to have the opportunity to do ministry with only my team. We flourish when it is only the seven of us. I thought that being with this team again would take away from my experience even though a couple of my best friends are on the other team. This speculation was absolutely wrong.
The fifteen of us arrived to Malealea, Lesotho around 10pm on October 1st. Upon arrival we were shown little cottage rooms that we would be staying in throughout our time at the Africa 4 Jesus base. On the door hung little signs that had room names. I ended up in room “peace”. There is no coincidence that I was in that room. The next morning, I woke up early to watch the sunrise and take the opportunity to explore the base while everyone else was sleeping.
Within the first two days…
- As I woke up and walked around I was overcome with an immense amount of peace.
- As we talked to our new host family (Pieter and Keila), I felt that they gave off an immense amount of peace.
- As we walked 5 miles around the area to become familiar with some of the villages and met with the Chief of the valley, I felt peace.
- As I spent time with the other team I didn’t feel tension or unrest but rather immense peace.
- As I thought about my future after the race I didn’t feel anxiety or frustrations about the unknown but instead peace and comforts in the unknowns.
There was no way I could explain this other than the way Pieter explained it to us a few days into the month…When Jesus needed time with His Father, He went to the mountains.
You can see this in Matthew 14:23, “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray,” and in Luke 6:12, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” These are only two examples from the Gospels but there are so many more references. There are similarities in all of them. The first is that Jesus took the active step to go to the mountains. He was never already in the mountains. He chose to go there to connect with His Father. And the second is that He connected to God through prayer.
Pieter spoke over us that he hoped that we would find God and grow so much closer to Him during our time in the mountains, just as Jesus did when he retreated to the mountains. And little did he know that that would lead to one of the best months of my 1 year journey, but also in the last 23 years.
The overwhelming peace that I felt in Lesotho never left me. It stayed with me when we were traveling to villages and talking to the elderly men and women, it stayed with me as I took in the magnitude of God’s greatness and His creation of the stars (which are most clearly seen in Lesotho because there are few things that dim the brightness at night – no electricity, no fires, nothing to block out the stars), it stayed with me as I spent time with Pieter and Keila and discussed their mission in Lesotho.
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The peace never left. And I think that has to do entirely with the connection of the mountains and Jesus and our Father.
I drew close to the Lord because I actively chose to retreat to the mountains and pray and abide in His goodness. Peace was the result.
-e
