Hello from Pretoria, the capital of South Africa! I hope this blog finds those of you back at home enjoying the beginnings of fall (which, by the way, is my favorite season!) Last weekend, my squad traveled 18 hours from Jeffrey’s Bay to come here for what is called an “Awakening” – something that happens when two or more World Race squads are in the same region at the same time! This is something not many squads get to experience along their Race, but I’m so thankful mine did! We joined B Squad from Swaziland to learn from and worship with them for 3 days! I had the opportunity to be a part of the storytelling group, where myself, a few of my teammates, and a few racers from B Squad worked to both teach about storytelling and capture what happened during the Awakening through photography, videography, and writing.
On the last day, I passed my phone around and anonymously asked racers from both A and B Squads to answer the question “How have you been awakened by God this weekend? How has He opened your eyes or made His presence known to you?” I thought it’d be impactful to share these with you in an effort to give you a glimpse of how the Lord is working through this generation of believers who are so passionate about the Creator of the Universe and so excited to share His love with people all across the planet! With that being said, here are some of the voices of A and B Squad, a group of people I’ve grown to know and love so deeply, and hope you will as well!
“Abba doesn’t stop chasing us, but He also doesn’t mind sitting still either. He’s down to simply hang out with me, shortcomings and all. The idea that He would be okay with questions, with doubts, with trust that waivers and His promises to me STILL stand? Wild. Crazy. Nuts. I pinch myself constantly because I can’t believe I get to be friends with that Guy.”
“The Lord awakened me this weekend by showing me what freedom and healing really look like. He opened my eyes to the fact that shame has no place in me and my story holds the keys to someone else’s freedom.”
“He has shown me all the ways that He has shown me this month that He loves me. He’s highlighted all the things He intentionally did to make sure Swazi felt like home. He is so intentional and goes out of His way to make sure I have what I need and no one has ever looked out for me like that before!!”
“Being given the opportunity to evangelize bore fruit in so many magical ways. Truthfully, I didn’t want to be on the evangelism team. In my mind, I thought I felt called to hospitality. I’m generally a friendly individual! Jesus knew I needed this moment. This situation. Thank you, Lord for keeping my heart open. What I’ve gathered from The Awakening is that evangelism reminds me a whole lot of my first day of high school: You don’t really know anyone- what you do know is you *need* to make friends. Abba has called His children to befriend one another. If you long to feel welcomed by anyone, you must become the welcomer yourself. I want to welcome this world with open arms! Unification has never weighed so heavily on my soul. The longing to love & pursue this earth has never made so much sense.”
“I am an ant. Also, community is dope. Also, A Squad is quite a rad group of folks.”
“Going into the Awakening I honestly didn’t think a 2 day period would mean much to me. I spent the first night that we got here not taking it as seriously but still praying for perspective. The next morning I was woken up with clear eyes to see the beauty that lies in our two squads that are living in almost polar opposite styles of life coming together as one community. All of us seeing the way God works in the speed and busy life in J-Bay but also how God has been moving in the slow and steady of Swazi. It’s been truly beautiful.”
“God knocked down walls and wrapped me in His arms. I proclaimed my yes to Him and am ready for whatever He has for me in this next season.”
“God has shown me that as long as I keep saying yes to Him, that His purpose for my life will be fulfilled. While it may not be easy to always say yes, He has shown me that the reward of following Him is so worth the surrender.”
“He’s helped me realize that I’m unsure of what my calling actually is. In that, however, he’s also pushing me towards more freedom with him as well as trust.”
“Going into the race I thought that this next 9 months would solidify my relationship with the Lord for the rest of my life. This weekend made me realize that a relationship with him means constant pursuit for the duration of my life, and my continued yes from Him.”
“God has just been so sweet this weekend. He has been showing me His kindness through everyone around me and pushing me to rely on him more and more as I am physically ill. God has shown me that I am seen and loved by Him in this time.”
“I came into this month being terrified of evangelism and today the Lord gave me the most magical experience in evangelism and i am just so excited for the next few months!”
“This awakening has opened my eyes to what evangelism really looks like because we got to go out and do it ourselves. Also, I’ve realized that the holy spirit can speak to you in very weird ways and that’s okay.”
“The Lord has shown me what living free actually means. Getting rid of all fear, shame, and guilt. It has no hold on me. He has shown up through nature and quiet whispers.”
“God has shown me the freedom I can find when I give him my fear and shame. This Awakening has been a space in which I can grow in confidence and boldness in the Holy Spirit, without being held back by the opinions of others.”
“These past few days at the awakening have shown me that God is so much greater than shame from my past. I have also grown a lot in confidence because I have never evangelized before, but being able to go out and talk to people alleviated a lot of my anxiety about it. I feel a lot better now about entering into a new ministry this month involving evangelism!”
“The Lord has given me a yebo (yes) spirit. I want to die to myself and live for Him.”
“Before the Awakening, I feel like I had been doing ministry feeling somewhat of a purpose and doing it with joy, but not really knowing what I was really learning or what I was doing, or even my true intent behind it. And while the Awakening hasn’t answered any questions, it gave me questions that I didn’t know to ask before, and I’m really excited to see how the Lord answers them in this coming season as I continue to lean on Him.”
“The Awakening has been really eye-opening for me in a lot of ways but the biggest thing that comes to mind is the freedom the Lord has shown me is possible. He has shown me that I can be free from my past and from my shame and that living in that freedom is what He has always wanted for me. I can be free from the opinions of other people because His is the only one that matters and I’ve seen and felt that here.”
“I literally never know how to hear God. I know He talks to me but I don’t know when He’s doing it and during the prayer time, I went to a girl and instead of praying over me with her eyes closed she opened her eyes and told me she was sorry but she couldn’t hear God and she never can. And I said it was okay I understand, I feel that way too maybe He wants us to just talk about it! And then it was my turn and I had no expectations to hear but I was at peace with it because I knew I wasn’t alone in my struggle. And then for the first time ever I knew I had a word for the girl coming to put her hand on me. And I told her that she needed to be patient and have faith; that His will will be done and not to put pressure on herself since it’s already been a month and I opened my eyes and she said it meant so much and that it was something she had been struggling with so much and she kept praying about it all weekend. I am just so amazed that immediately after being open about my trouble listening, I finally heard something so clearly for the first time ever. And it totally reminded me that He really is working in me and present here because look! He said something! for the first time!”
“Throughout the Awakening, the Father has helped me to be content with the current season I am in.”
“This weekend God has been reaffirming His plans for me here in Africa. I feel really called to be here & have for a super long time and was just waiting for him to show me what ministry He wants to partner with me at. But this weekend the Lord was showing me how I don’t have to wait because every day is ministry and every day is evangelizing if you’re truly living
for Jesus and everything I do wherever I am is for His glory.”
“God has reminded me to rest in Him and be to be filled by Him and the community around me that is trying to fill me.”
“The Lord awakened me this weekend by allowing me to thrive in my growth. He is teaching me what it means to go at His pace and appreciate the stretching that He is doing along the way. If I try to see everything through my own eyes and don’t understand why He is moving at the rate He is, I will miss things along the way that will provide me with wisdom that is needed.”
“God has really shown me His goodness this weekend. He’s encouraging me and opening my eyes to what a true life and heart of abandonment means. He’s refreshed my spirit and given me rest. He’s really bringing the yes to my spirit.”
“God has shown me more of my gift of empathy. Story time. When the speaker asked us to raise our hand if we didn’t feel loved, I went around and prayed over those people and with every person I touched I just wept for them. Then I would get up and be full of peace and the next person I touched I would weep again. Just a way the Lord has shown me more of him.”
So, those are the voices of 26 of the many Gap Year racers who have abandoned their life of comfort at home to live a life of intentional mission for the next 9 months! We are so grateful for all of you and can feel your prayers all the way over here in Africa!
#AwakeningSouthAfrica
