This month has not been a typical month on the world race. Normally, we have ministry 6 days a week and then rest one day. Normally, we interact with people everyday and get to know our neighbors. We serve with them and share the Gospel with them.
But this month, we didn't.
If you would have told me at the beginning of the month I would work maybe 2 full days a week, get to know our contact a little, and know no one else in the tiny town we live in, I would think you were crazy. That is not what I signed up for. I signed up to serve and love God's people.
If you were to tell me this would be a month of rest, I would look at you like you were joking, because let's face it, that doesn't happen on the World Race.
But that's exactly what happened. And God met me here in huge ways.
It is no secret that our race hasn't been normal. Things have been brought up and people have been hurt. What I knew I really needed through this was rest and time, but that just wasn't happening.
At the beginning of the month during worship, God gave me a vision. In it, we were walking together and as I looked down I saw a lot of crap, issues, and baggage that we were walking over. But we were doing just that, walking over it, so it didn't affect me. Then God started placing things in my lap and I was like, ok, I can handle this. Little by little, bigger things started to get placed in my lap and I started to get more and more worried, but God reassured me that he would walk with me and would carry me when I didn't have the strength to go another step.
Two days after the vision, things started to hit me. At first it wasn't too difficult, but just as God promised, things started to get more difficult and I needed to lean on Him even more. In this time, I became incredibly thankful that I had so much time to spend alone soaking up His word and His presence. I became thankful for rainy and snowy days where we had no obligation to work. I was reminded of a prayer a prayed in India, that God would give me times to curl up with a blanket and just spend with Him.
I know now that there is no way I could have gotten through this month if it was just another "normal" month on the World Race. God knew that I needed the stillness and quietness to work through issues and come out stronger on the other side. I needed the solitude to not freak out and go crazy because there are people around ALL the time.
So was this the ideal month? No. Would I have liked to do ministry more and make solid relationships with people? Yes. But was it exactly what God had planned for me? Yes. And that makes it worth it.
