I just want to share some examples with you of how I learned to rest with the Lord this past month and I hope this encourages all of you to seek God’s presence in all the things that you do in life in a deeper way. I hope that it shows you something about resting with Lord that you didn’t already know. So here we go!
I’ll begin the blog by saying, that in early February my team arrived in Bangkok for a mini debrief with the rest of the group and it was a lot of fun. We learned about some different things and then on like the last day of it my team decided to pray for where we felt God was telling us to go to next. As we kept chatting and discerning where it was we ended up finding a small village called Nong Khai, which we saw was located all the way to the eastern part of Thailand very close to the border of the country Laos (you could literally see it from that area). At that point in time I knew that it was a place that God had for us and it was a completely hidden place that you couldn’t find without God’s help. Another way we knew that it was the place we were supposed to go to was because we all felt like there would be some rice fields in it and that it was small village like area. So a little later that day some of the members of my team looked for a place with rice fields and they actually found an Air BnB a place that had a description that read, “We have rice fields here.”, so we booked it right away. After we had paid for it, we all felt peace in our spirits that we were going to impact some good things there and I knew I could rest with God knowing that we were at a place where He wanted us to go to.
However, the tiring part about going there was that we had to travel around 10 to 12 hours to get there, which to me it felt like we were on a bus for a whole day, but it actually wasn’t that bad. Then after the long bus ride we finally arrived to the house. We then met the owner of the house our host Sarisa and her son, Joshua. I realized that when I met them they were going to be really good to know and that I was going to be serving her in any way possible, which I was excited for. I also knew that my team was supposed to encourage her in her faith since she probably is the only Christian in that village. I also knew that my team could spread joy to her and Joshua, so I was excited for that as well and I knew that she was happy that she could talk to about Jesus to people as well. Then after being there a couple of day she finally said to us, “Gosh I love you all” and we became apart of her family. It also cool that my team had meals with her almost everyday and that she cooked us food a lot as well. I felt very loved and filled with happiness by her generous spirit.
Then our team had a time there where we decided to pray about if we needed to move places or stay with Sarisa and Joshua for a longer period of time and God said to us, “You all are supposed to stay for another week and continue to help encourage her in her faith.” So we did as God commanded and ended up staying there for a total of 10 days and we knew that being there with her was a very good thing for her and it taught us how to live our lives out of love and to encourage people everyday.
While we were there my team also did a Bible Study on a daily basis where all of us took turns presenting a verse to the rest of the team that they might not understand and then talked about it together. It was really cool that Sarisa knew a lot of English because there was one day when we were reading and going over the verses and all of a sudden Sarisa said to us, “Hey guys can I join you all?” and so we invited her to join us and she joined the group. I was thrilled to have her and I thought that it was a time for my team to encourage her to read the Bible on a daily basis and for her to spend time with Jesus more. I also learned about resting in God’s presence when reading the Bible by just having intimate time with Him. During those times I felt like they were special and I’m excited for more of it with other people around the world.
Then on the last day at Sarisa’s house my team and I prayed about what’s next. As we were praying we all felt like God was going to have us travel 36 hours by bus to Phuket, Thailand. To what I heard from other people, that it is a place in the southern part of Thailand and it is said to have some very nice beach and a nice vocation place. It is also supposedly a good way to meet a lot of different travelers there too. It was said to also be a place where you can “relax and enjoy your time.” and I was excited to go there because I knew that I could get a lot of rest with Jesus there and help others receive Him there.
After the long 36 hours of travel, my team finally arrived to Phuket and since we traveled for so long we were all very tired, so we decided to “take it easy and not wear ourselves out.” Later that night we all decided that we wanted to have a time for worship where we could rest in the presence of the God and talk about how we were feeling. I felt in my spirit that it was going to be a time where we could just encounter God even deeper by listening to the music and towards the end of it I wanted the whole team to pray over Thailand and the other areas/places we went to and also to pray for the other team members, by giving them encouraging words and whatever else God wanted to say to them as well. Then we also decided to pray that the divine encounters God has for us would show themselves to us really soon. I believe that those prayers are going to make a difference everywhere we go.
Then after we finished the prayer, I started to walk back down the stairs towards the room I’m staying in and something really cool happened. In a random way, I actually met two people, who were extremely nice and are from Quebec, Canada. They were standing together and if you didn’t know I am a people person that likes to get to know new people, so I decided to see if they wanted to join me and my team for ice cream since we were going to get some. I was very surprised that they then said “Sure I’ll go.” and it was at that moment that I felt God say to me,“See Daniel if you just pray and ask for things overtime they will happen.” This example made me feel encouraged and I’m excited for more of these different divine encounters that I know will happen.
The last example I’ll share with you about resting in God’s presence is that my team and I decided to go to the beach when we arrived to Phuket. On that day, my team was having our sabbath, which I can sum it up as a day where I just got to encounter God in all the things He wanted me to do that day. It was a day that I felt really relaxed and I got to ask God questions about my life and rest in His presence, which was really nice. I also got to enjoy just listening to His voice and just feel at peace and feel ready for whatever He has for me later on and it definitely was a fun day. I hope to have more of those relaxing and peace filled days at another beach because I can’t wait to grow even deeper with God there.
In the end, I hope you can see that you can always find rest in God’s presence wherever you are and in whatever you do. I hope these examples taught you all a little bit about how I rest with God and I encourage you to find the ways you can do it too. Be blessed and get the rest.
