Backstory: At training camp and launch, Adventures offered prophetic key necklaces that were prayed over and personally delivered to the various racers. The heart behind these necklaces is that God will reveal to each individual person the meaning behind their key at some point on their race. Once they learn the meaning of their key, many people then pray for another person to give it to for them to discover the meaning for themselves. The key that I got at camp has the word “loved.” I got it assuming that the Lord was wanting to teach me how loved I am (which He has been), but the true meaning went so much deeper than that. As you all know, I spent the first two months in Thailand. During the second month of ministry, my team was working at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS. We spent the first half of our days cleaning and doing practical work around the campus before spending the rest of the day with the kids. The very first day we were there, they had us clean the women’s unit in the event that a pregnant woman would need a place to stay (see my blog that talks about the lesson we learned from it, “I am a: servant”).
Shortly after beginning this ministry, the Lord showed me a vision of this very unit. To set the scene: this unit was very dusty and dirty, practically abandoned. In my vision, me and a teammate stood outside one of the rooms that (in my dream) had been locked and deserted for years. We both stood there, our key necklaces around our necks, theorizing the possibility of our keys being able to unlock the door. My teammate tried hers, with no prevail. She then told me to try mine, but I was very reluctant because I didn’t see the point in trying a key that obviously would not fit in a random door in the middle of Thailand. I finally caved and tried mine – only to find it to miraculously open the door. The door creaked open and I entered the musky room. I noticed my teammate still standing outside the room, but when I asked her why she wasn’t coming with, she told me, “You’re the only one with the key. This is something that only you can do.” A little annoyed and very confused, I closed the door behind me and walked in. The room had a twin bed in the middle and some old furniture scattered and flipped throughout the small bedroom. Cobwebs strung low and various insects and lizards ran to hide at my presence. Taking it all in, I heard a faint and muffled crying. I found the source to be one of my toddlers from the orphanage crying under the bed. I tried to soothe her and coax her out from underneath the bed, but she just cried louder. (Note: this particular little one was terrified of us racers. She had the biggest smile and laughed more than any other kid there, but for some reason, whenever any of us tried to approach her she would just shout “Ma!” and run away crying.) After trying to comfort her from afar, I finally just reached under and pulled her out. She immediately began crying uncontrollably and screaming that something was going to get her. She kept describing an evil monster and said it was going to take her away. I just continued to rock her and tell her everything would be okay. In an instant, a dark force of some sort came out of no where and began its attack upon the child and I painstakingly just held her close and shielded her with my body away from the darkness. Immediately after, the scene cut off, and I got a revelation that the only reason I could enter the room was because I alone had the key and that key is love. I alone held the key to rescue this little girl, and God was wanting to use me to love her in a way that no one else could before. She needed someone to protect her and fight for her, and for some reason (that I’m still learning), God called me to be that person.
Several months ago, someone had prophesied over me that I would stand on a cliff overlooking hundreds of “robotic” people. They said that I had an ability to see past the “motions” and see things from a higher perspective. After the scene with the little girl, the vision continued to another scene of this other prophesy. The only difference was that I now stood on the cliff next to Jesus. I stood there watching all these people, identities undisclosed, confused as to why they were so trapped in their mundane lives. I asked Jesus this very question and He said that every single person that I saw was a person God is calling me to love throughout my lifetime. Some of whom I would love for my whole life, some only a season, others in just a brief moment in time, but all of them desperate for the love of Jesus. I asked Him how He expected me to love them if I didn’t even know who they were. He gently explained to me that, just as with the little girl, I alone hold the key to love them the way God is asking me to. I alone hold the key to break down the floodgates to their hearts. As far as their identities, each would be revealed when the time was right. He told me that every person I come into contact is a person He sent for me to love. Every last one of them. In that moment, I looked back over the cliff at the people below and the identity of one person was revealed: me. The very first person the Lord is asking me to love is myself, and I alone hold the key to love myself the way God is asking me to.
My key necklace is “loved”. I thought that the Lord was wanting to teach me how to be loved, which He is, but the meaning of my key is to show everyone around me that they are loved by a God far greater than anyone of this world. I alone hold that key because no one else can love people exactly like I can. I was able to take this renewed perspective and love on the sweet little one in a way that God was only calling me to. As terrified as she was of us at the beginning of our ministry month, she broke down her walls of fear and became one of the many monkeys that clung to our legs during play time. We were able to show her a love so much deeper than human embrace. We were able to show her the love of her Heavenly Father. Even at just 3 years old, I believe that seeds were planted that will someday bloom. God is calling me (and anyone reading this) to love every single person we meet. The question is not who/what/when/where/why/how – its whether or not we will be obedient. Are we willing to say yes?
