One night in Bali, a few of my teammates and I had the opportunity to attend a Hindu temple ceremony. Since before going on The World Race, I’ve had the strong desire to see and experience how other cultures and faiths worship and praise. If I feel that I’m called into any kind of ministry realm in life, then I surely need to know how to be open to understanding others’ faith. Contrary to how many people may view the type of “work” we were doing, missions is not a time of shoving religion or beliefs into anyone else’s lives. But rather, it’s to offer what I have found to be total and complete and eternal freedom and love through my believing in Jesus. Someone once described sharing the Good News as profoundly and weighted as sharing the cure for cancer. If you had it, would you share it with others? Absolutely. Why? Because it would heal and help and revive the lives of people across the globe. This is how I feel about knowing Jesus and sharing that love I’ve found through Him with others around the world. I will never tell someone, “You need to believe this!” But I will forever offer my story to others and say, “This is what my experience has been; I would love to share that with you.”
That night at the temple was honestly so beautiful to me; to see the devotion that these people (people we had grown to deeply love in a matter of days) had to their faith was awe inspiring. But it was simultaneously heartbreaking, as they were worshipping literal idols and man made gods. For a fire-filled believer like myself, this would only induce feelings of, “Oof– I wish they knew Your power, Lord– I wish this devout faith was to You and You alone. What the world could look like with this faith for You. Oh how their lives would be changed before their eyes with you, Jesus.” You may be thinking, “But that’s why you were there right? To tell them about Jesus?” In short, yes. But it’s a much bigger picture when you are immersed in a culture where sharing the Good News is actually against the law. You can’t just go around shouting your faith from the rooftops. However, we found out we (actually) kinda could…
We returned that night to where we were living next to the temple; ‘temples’ plural, rather. There were 3 of them within a rock-tossing-range from where we slept. Since this particular evening was a special, all evening ceremony night, the prayers and chants were ringing out across our complex as loud as could be over loud speakers. In that space of what felt like tangible, spiritual weight & warfare from these chants singing over us, one of my teammates said, “I think we should worship.” Most everyone was heading to bed, but a handful of us girls felt that same call from God to just praise Him. We set up a blanket in the middle of the back deck area where we were staying. We had a cellphone, a worship playlist, and heart postures hungry for the presence of our Savior.
So we began to sing. We began to sing over the chants, over the music, over the warfare we felt. We began to interceed with our praises. We began to literally “use worship as a weapon” as my pastor has always said. That statement had never felt so real before in my entire life. As our music continued to play from that cell phone speaker, and the chants began to loudly echo over our surroundings, I (for just a moment) felt disheartened. “We can’t compete with these loud songs, God. This almost seems silly.” But in that moment, the Lord spoke something to me that would actually remain one of the most meaningful phrases in my faith from that moment on:
“Sing anyways.”
I was shook. I heard the words in my heart so profoundly and clearly. In the midst of the madness, in the midst of the noises growing louder than our praises, in the midst of the warfare, “Sing anyways.” Wow… those were some of the most simple, yet weighted words I’ve ever heard from God. So in the disheartened feelings and the echos of the chants ringing over the atmosphere– in the face of the enemy trying to silence our voices–we sang anyways. And as we sang, raising our voices louder and louder from the safety of our big, concrete back deck, something wild began to happen: it started to sound like the notes and voices of the village chants were actually joining in with our songs. We all noticed it! It was as if their songs were changing and connecting with our worship; as if our praises were actually altering theirs to all be unified worship rising up to the heavens. It was such a magical moment.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
The longer the chants sounded out, the longer we sang; the longer we kept praising. Nearly two hours in, the village broadcast of the music and voices went silent at midnight. But we were still singing… well most of us were. Because in the midst of a phone speaker sounding out directly next to my head on the blanket, and the chants echoing over us, I had somehow fallen asleep worshipping! Talk about a peace that surpasses understanding!? And ya’ll: all of us felt that. The chants ended, yet we let the worship music keep playing quietly as we started to “wake up” from this weighted peace. Our comments were evidence of the atmosphere we felt:
“I don’t want to move!”
“Me neither!”
“This is the most peace I’ve felt since we got here!”
“The most peace we had felt since we got there.” Who would’ve thought? In the midst of the heaviest feeling of warfare, we sang and praised anyways, and the result was ultimate peace– the can’t-move-from-where-you’re-laying-to-go-get-in-your-tent kinda peace. Til this day (you can ask the other girls too) that was one of the most powerful and Spirit-filling nights of the Race; just us girls and God, singing right over the feelings of heaviness and fear.
You know how I told you those words were so meaningful from God to share with me? It’s cause they were words given that night by Him, that would train my heart in the days to come:
John’s strings on his guitar broke twice in two weeks, and the Lord gave him the phrase “worship is warfare”– God whispered to me again, “Sing anyways.”
I danced in the rain with Annie and Hannah, out of sheer joy and overflow of God’s love one day in Malaysia. We danced for so long, and I rubbed my eyes so hard that my blood vessels popped (true story) and I could barely open them. The enemy would’ve liked for me to sit out of leading worship with them that Friday night– but God whispered to me again, “Sing anyways.”
We found out we were going back to America due to Covid after we had just gotten off a 15 hour bus ride at our new ministry site in Thailand. We weren’t sure we could make it through a single worship song at that tiny church gathering without sobbing as we left. And though we didn’t make it through without sobbing, God whispered to me again, “Sing anyways.”
I got back to Atlanta and was in limbo of where to live and what to do and how to process all the unknowns hanging in the air. And in the midst of the unknowns, God whispered to me again, “Sing anyways.”
And though it’s Monday, though we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, though we are uncertain of our futures, though we don’t know what’s next, though we don’t know how to feel, though we may be scared or anxious or feeling unsteady– I think God wants to whisper these words into your ear today: “Sing anyways.”
Let’s keep singing anyways.
When the enemy is knocking at your door, sing anyways.
When your anxious thoughts and worries are battling your mind, sing anyways.
When you’re scared of what you may face tomorrow, sing anyways.
Sing anyways. Praise anyways. Trust anyways.
He’s worthy of our praise. He’s worthy of our worship. He’s worthy of our singing.
“Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.
On that day they will say to Jerusalem, ‘Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.‘” (Zephaniah 3:14-17)
Prayer requests: More difinitive news about the next steps & direction regarding The World Race are unfolding in the next two weeks. If you could join me in prayer for God’s will, and for our leadership within the organization to hear from Him clearly in these days, as big decisions hang in our midst.
If you could also be lifting up the island of Bali; the friends of the village that truly became family to me. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to encounter them in these days with love and protection and provision. Pray that they will have encounters with the living God during these days.
If you would also lift me up, specifically to hear from the Lord in moving forward with some open opportunities. Pray that I have clear discernment of what He wants of me, and that every step I take in my own life is to give Him full glory.
And to everyone still encouraging, still praying, still supporting: thank you. Thank you endlessly for your love and committment to seeing Heaven on earth. His kingdom come, and His will WILL be done. I love you all, infinitely <3
Alas, I’ll close as I always do: this is (still) just the beginning <3
