First the World Race staff ask you to write a blog on your expectations for the race and then at training camp they tell you to hold no expectations. Try as you may you still have expectations. God has blessed me and my team on our travels and I have a confession to make….I am expecting.
I am expecting that the Lord will take care of me.
I am expecting that he will provide for me and not just meagerly.
I am expecting that he has the best plan for me.
I am expecting to be blessed for going out and doing what he has asked me too.
Yes, I’ll admit that the first half of the race I expected to have things much worse. I expected I would have to use my tent every month and I would be starving all the time. That is a false statement. I have used my tent one night to sleep on a ferry to keep the bugs off of me and I have been so full I have thrown up. So then why do I automatically expect the worst while living out of a backpack and traversing the world for Jesus? Why do I doubt that he will take care of me? Well I tell no more will I ever expect the worst, not after my week in Kuantan.
You see God loves his children. He loves that we are serving and furthering his Kingdom. He looks down on us and smiles and this week he blessed us immensely. He moved in the hearts of our new family in Kuantan. As a team we only spent about 50 RM, which is less than $20 because every meal was either cooked for us or sponsored by members of Tamil Methodist Church (TMC). We were fed traditional Indian food and some of our favorite western food. I am talking about Big Apple Gourmet Donuts, Pizza Hut pizza, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, French fries, chicken nuggets, and ice cream. At one house we were sat down to a home cooked three course meal complete with sparkling grape juice.
Let me tell you how much God REALLY loves us. We slept in air conditioned rooms. We were invited into many homes where we spent time hanging out and exchanging stories. We were sung to by three women with voices of angels. We were able to watch Animal Planet and CSN as more news from Japan came in. We made close friendships with almost everyone we met. God blessed us by allowing us to minister to teenagers in the church at a youth camp and we danced and sang with children from a children’s home. God moved through us at a healing service. We laughed with our contact pastor for the week and he became another member of our team. We were given small gifts and even a love gift. Nikki’s trip to the doctor, medicine, and food for her diet the doctor put her on was all covered by members of TMC.
Leaving was hard to do. We loved it there. I loved it there and I hope that someday I will make the journey back because I will miss my new family there. They taught me a great deal about freely giving and embodying the love of Christ. I also learned that if you are doing what the Father wants you to do he will reward your efforts. You will be blessed and blessed in abundance. Don’t make your expectations out to be the worst. If you go where he calls you should expect that he will take care of you and reward you for doing what he has asked of you.
