We’ve been in the Philippines for about a week now, and in still doesn’t feel quite real. The World Race does that to you a lot. Incredible things happen right in front of your eyes and all you can to is think “this can’t be real.”
So yes, we are in our 7th month and have officially made it to the final continent of the race.
That means we have roughly 140 days until we’re home. WHAT. This thing is flying by.
As many of you may know, Africa was kind of rough. Maybe you could tell through posts from other racers, or maybe it was obvious from my lack of posts. I had a lot of writer’s block and ended up taking a month off from filming. I realized that I wasn’t necessarily being inspired to create something, but was trying to force content out of obligation. The other Story Leaders on my squad encouraged me to join them in taking a month off to clear our heads and get right with God.
It just so happened that Lesotho was the perfect place to do that. God’s funny that way.
I think He knew we would be experiencing spiritual warfare last month, and let me tell ya, that is not a fun roller coaster ride. It messes with your head and that is detrimental when trying to be creative.
Something shifted when I got to the Philippines, though. We stepped off the plane and were greeted by our host with American candy bars (I hadn’t seen a Butterfinger in over 6 months, so it was a good day.) Once we had loaded our stuff and ourselves on to the bus, we made our way through the capital and on to the small town where we would be living and doing ministry.
Immediately, stories began to pour in to my head. It was like God had them wrapped up nicely in a bow, opened the packaging for me, and began to pour His new gifts into my lap.
The Philippines is a beautiful place and it has reminded me of my time in India in so many ways. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming, the food is amazing, and the little street markets make every corner feel like a new adventure.
Two hours later, we were settling in to our new accommodations and I was ready to catch some Z’s. Something we were encouraged to do a lot in Lesotho was pray over our space and ask for protection from spiritual warfare. Even though we weren’t in Africa anymore, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep this habit up.
I asked Him to allow us all to have a good night’s rest and to protect our space and minds from spiritual warfare. “I don’t know what that looks like here,” I started to say, and He stopped my prayer to give me a picture.
I saw the Holy Spirit speaking to someone on our squad, and His words floated through the air to the person on the receiving end like smoke from a hookah pipe. Just before the message was received, the enemy walks by, the words bump in to him and fall to the ground. “Oh I’m sorry,” he says slyly as he picks up the jumbled mess of letters, dusts them off, and begins piecing them back together. As he does, he leaves out the important bits and gives the message to the person with half truths and a lack of substance.
I didn’t know what spiritual warfare looked like in Asia, so He showed me.
Since then, I’ve been able to recognize when I’m receiving a message that isn’t quite complete. I’m getting better at discerning the voice of God and knowing when something is not from Him. What’s been more difficult is being able to know what is from Him. It’s like I’ve lost a radio signal, and once I’ve missed the broadcast, there’s no way to get it back.
So I ask that you will pray for me. Pray that I will hear God’s voice. Whether it’s through a song, another teammate, a sermon, or directly from Him, I seek those messages filled with truth and love. I know that God has me in a season of waiting and is preparing me for something big, I just don’t know what that something is yet. Prayers for guidance and clarity filling my spiritual inbox would bring nothing but blessings and comfort.
I love you all and hope things in America are unfolding as beautifully as they are here.
All my love,
Aubrey
