And just like that, I have come to the end of my time in Asia. There’s never any words that can encapsulate the way that I have grown, the way that I am feeling on any given day, the impact many different individuals have had on my life, and of course the abundance of love I have for these cultures and these people. If there’s one thing you should know about this whirlwind of an adventure, it’s this… I have nothing to offer these places or these people. The world does not need me, Alivya Wimmer. My life is finite, my knowledge is futile, my experience is limited, and ultimately while searching for my purpose in this world — I found out that the world doesn’t have a purpose for me. But God does. And he’s got the same purpose for you — that you would be loved unconditionally, known fully and live a life that reflects His love to those around you.
Maybe it is a morbid thought but if I were to die tomorrow, the world would continue to move on. The sun will rise and the stars will still come out. This isn’t to say that my life doesn’t matter but instead, a humbling perspective that who I am on this earth won’t last forever. Of the hundreds to thousands of people I have met, a majority of them will not remember my name, my face or the conversations we had. The saying, “people won’t always remember what you said or did, they will remember the way you made them feel” has never been more pertinent than now. In a world seemingly overwhelmed by hate, money, abuse, fear, injustice and brokenness, people are looking desperately for love. Love for themselves, love for friends, love for a significant other, ultimately searching for a love of humanity. We’re all just trying to find our place in the world, to love and to be loved. If there is one thing that I have found transcends all languages, all cultures and all country borders — it’s love. We were designed to crave connection, to be fueled by love and to be fully known. I’ve seen it in my own life and in my friends’ lives, in the same way that I see it in the orphans in Thailand, the elderly in Panama, and the young adults in Vietnam.
I did not come on this journey to save people, to tell them a few bible stories and go home feeling like I accomplished something. But the love I carry is something unique, and it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Jesus. I’m familiar with the “white savior” complex and to be honest, I even possessed some of this mindset when coming onto the race. I felt like I could bring something to people around the world, I could build them a home or build a well in a rural area so that they wouldn’t need to walk miles for water. I wanted to bring help and change; it’s an innocent and pure concept in theory but it’s wrong. People don’t need things. More than these people needed fresh water, hospitals, meals, or money, they need love — to be loved and to feel loved. And I have had the opportunity to show them and tell them that God is love. To show them that love is actually just a synonym for God and He has so much more to offer them than I ever will. It is incredible to think that God has uniquely designed every individual in the world, from the beginning of time, to have a desire for the one thing that only He can satisfy. The unconditional agape love.
The people I have encountered don’t need possessions and typically they don’t even want them. They want me to sit with them when they are sick, to hold their hand when they’re lonely, to talk about how they feel while someone listens. And that’s not just developing countries, I have seen it in myself, in my teammates, in my hosts, in my friends back home, in my family, etc. — because love is what drives the human race. All over the world I have watched as people of all cultures seek temporal sources of love and intimacy but are never satisfied. But the good news is, there is a source of love that can satisfy us all forever; to the very end of time. 1 John 4:7-12
I’ve seen it, I’ve experienced it and I am sharing it with you, so that you wouldn’t have to keep searching — but that you would have the courage to find it, to experience it and to know that you are worthy of love. I have been loved, I have fallen in love and on my journey I have ultimately found a perfect unconditional love by the one who created me and knows me by name. My prayer is that you would find it too, because it is so much better than anything else this world has to offer, I can promise you that.
Some once told me this and I think it is important for every person to meditate on regardless of where your faith is at or what you believe because the truth is — Jesus would have still come and sacrificed his life even if it were just YOU on this earth because He loves you. If you replace “the world” in John 3:16-17 for “you” it becomes this: For God so loved YOU that he gave his one and only Son that YOU would believe in him, that YOU would not not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn YOU but to save YOU through him.
As always, all my love —
Alivya
