wedding + funeral = The Servanthood of the Traveling Dress

So I have this great dress. I love dresses. They make me feel like such a pretty girl. I can look so carefree and beautiful just by wearing one and it is so simple to throw on. For those reasons, I brought two dresses on the race; one is a new lightweight purple and grey one I bought specifically for the race and the other is one is a great teal dress I bought over the summer. I wore this dress a lot. It wore it to concerts, girls night outs, dates, lunches with friends, church…everything. It is a great little dress, I tell you. Well, who would I have thought that on the World Race, I would wear this dress to not only church, but both a wedding AND a funeral.

Last week, our contact informed us that one of his friend’s wife past away the night before very suddenly. Being good World Racers, we immediately broke into an intense prayer. There are currently three teams staying here at this house. That means 21 racers and 1 bathroom, not including the family who lives here. Needless to say, I am growing patience this month. Anyway, 21 people also means 21 strong, powerful, ‘Holy Spirit filled’ young adults who are constantly pressing into the presence of God to hear His voice.

We make plans to go visit the man’s house. We all pile in taxis and arrive at this man’s home to find out that he is not currently there, and his wife is at the hospital. We cannot put our hands on her to raise her. So we bless the home, the church the husband is the pastor to, and every family member present. Honestly, I was let down. We had never stopped praying as a group and out loud. We knew that there had to be some cool and intense reason as to why our three teams were together, because it was not planned. We wanted big, amazing, miraculous things to happen. I wanted big, amazing, miraculous things to happen. And I did not see that. I didn’t see that then…

We were invited to the funeral a few days later. A smaller group of us decided to go in hopes that we could find a way to get our hands on this woman to try to raise her from the dead. Or at least those were my secret intentions. This church was so packed with people. We got there when it started at 10am and we had to stand outside in the sun, without even an option to peek in the window because even those spots were taken. I begin to read my Bible and pray. I prayed really hard. I prayed that God would give me the opportunity to see this woman, to touch her, to pray for her, to have the boldness and power to raise her. During this prayer, Addie was asked to give her testimony at the service. So she willingly went up there and spoke great truths and words of wisdom to the people. however I heard her say out loud, while standing up there using the mic, that she had to change what she was planning on saying because no one was crying. No one was sad at this funeral. The people there were rejoicing God and praising Him for his mysterious love. They were celebrating the life of this woman and the great life that she led. God was not calling me to raise her, because that is not what these people needed or wanted. God was just calling me to love this people with the love of the Lord. That is truly what this race is all about, isn’t it? Love.