This month has been very different than my first three months on the race. I spent a lot of time in remote villages in Africa, this month I’ve been in a big city. This month is the first time I’ve been able to wash my clothes in an actual washing machine and not just by hand (they smell so clean!). The first three months, we stood out and people wanted to know why we chose to be there. This month, there are tourists everywhere, so we blend in. This month was all squad month, so all 37 of us were in the same place, compared to the first three months of being with just my team of 7 or with one other team. The first three months, we served alongside of hosts who were already ministering to the community. This month, we have the opportunity to create our own ministry. This month is what’s called ATL – Ask the Lord. Basically what that means is we go before the Lord and ask Him what He wants us to do today, this week, this month. And then we do it. I’ll be honest, it’s something that has been challenging for me at times. I like having a schedule, I like knowing what to expect, I like knowing that I’ve accomplished something at the end of the day. But with ATL, I don’t always have that. I have to trust God to speak, to work, to provide opportunities to share His love. But you know what? He has. It hasn’t always looked the way that I expected, but His ways are always better than what I expect.
It all started before we even arrived in Thailand, when we had a layover in Ethiopia getting ready to board our flight to Bangkok, we found out that although our original plan was for our entire squad to stay in Chiang Mai, that due to dangerous levels of air pollution in the city, we would not be going there anymore, but would be staying in Bangkok instead. Because of this last minute change, we didn’t have ministries set up ahead of time, so it became ATL. A common phrase of the world race is life is ministry and ministry is life, and that’s something that has really been ringing true this month. God is showing me what it looks like to simply live a life of love for Him, and to leave the rest up to Him. He creates the opportunities every day, it’s just a matter of if I’m listening, if I’m obeying. It’s been cool to see the times that my team has prayed individually for what God wants us to do for the day, and to have multiple team members hear the same thing. It’s been cool to see Him in the daily routine of things, like simply eating lunch at the same place every day and building a relationship with the workers. Or walking down the same street and passing by the same people. We’ve gone on prayer walks and prayed throughout temples, feeling a shift in the atmosphere and asking for spiritual walls to be broken. We’ve spent time just sitting with homeless people, even though we could only share a few words and charades.
In Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren writes that, “Everyone wants to change the world. No one wants to wash the dishes.” My sister shared this quote with me before I came on the race, but it’s stuck with me ever since. Even though I’m traveling the world and do have a lot of opportunities I don’t have at home, most times ministry does look like just doing life with people, loving them in the ordinary things of the day…whether that’s literally doing the dishes together or taking the time to stop and get to know the person that you pass by every single day. Sometimes ministry is preaching or evangelizing or teaching kids, but always it’s loving people…whether that be my teammates or hosts or people I pass by. So this month, God is teaching me that ministry doesn’t always look exactly the way I expect, but lucky for me God doesn’t work within my expectations.
I have four days to be fully funded – I am $1,930 away from that goal. Would you consider partnering with me? Any amount will help! Thank you!!!
