The whole world is going corona crazy and being affected by this virus and with that I am no different. Since the news of the virus starting in China we have kept a close watch on its progression, all the while trusting that the Lord would protect our squad and the people we came in contact with. Adventure in Missions (AIM) our sending organization has been doing everything they can to keep us safe as well as the people we are serving. Their hope was to allow us to continue to be out in the field spreading the gospel as long as it did not endanger the people we were serving or ourselves. Our squad had just reached Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) and we had been there for just under two weeks when AIM found out that most of Africa was going to start shutting its borders. Since Africa had mostly not been affected by the virus majority of the countries had decided not to risk staying open so they were closing off to the rest of the world. Eswatini being one of the first countries on the list to close its borders. So AIM jumped on it and within less than 24 hours we found out we were being sent home and we were on our way. At first they were planning on sending only the squads in Africa home, but as more and more countries started following in Africa’s footsteps the more reality set in that everyone would need to come back to the states. Adventures in Mission informed and mobilized over 500 missionaries spread out all over the world to bring them home in less than a week. The video at the bottom explains in more detail the heart of AIM in it all.
So now I am at home, sitting on my parents couch trying to process my last 6 months and thinking about what is next. It is strange being home when that was not where I was expecting to be. It’s funny because unmet expectations is something I have had many conversations with my squad about since the beginning of the race. We would talk about how the Lord asks us to be expectant of Him to move in our lives but how we can not live with expectations of what or how He will actually do it. It is a fine line between being expectant and expectancy.
So as I have been processing what that means for me, I have come to this conclusion. I was expecting the Lord to show up in “breakthrough”, the word He gave me for this year, and the word he gave Jordan and I for our squad for Eswatini. I was expecting Him to do it all while we were there in the 3 months we had left, but what I have come to realize is that he didn’t need 3 whole months. He only needed a little less than 2 weeks. Our squad was different as soon as we set foot in Eswatini. They were more confident, unified, and joyful. It was beautiful to witness. I loved getting up early in the morning and seeing people deep in the word. I loved going to ministry with them, holding kids and seeing each of them with their hearts wide open. Eswatini can be described best in the words of Shaunna Niequist (Author of Bittersweet) as a thin place; “Thin places: places where the boundary between the divine world and the human world becomes almost nonexistent, and the two, divine and human, can for a moment, dance together uninterrupted. Some are physical places, and some aren’t places at all, but states of being or circumstances or seasons.” In my opinion it is places like this that show me God is real, and this faith I have subscribed to is worth it.
So those 12 days in Eswatini were a gift, sure I wish we were there for the whole 3 months to relish in the sweetness of that season, but I am thankful for the time we got there. I am thankful that God doesn’t need my expectations. I am thankful that His timing is always always always better than mine. So now I just need to figure out what’s next.
