A Sojourner's Revelation
A sojourner is a person who resides temporarily in a place.
It was a blazing 97 degrees at the front of the bus on Monday, July 28th, as we traveled from the mountains of Romania down to the Black Sea. This is one of the many reasons I hate to travel. I hate the stress of the unknown as well. How do we get there? What will our accommodations be like? Will crossing the borders be hard? My mind always seems to spiral out of control. I have always hated long trips. I know part of it stems back to previous bad vacations and stressful traveling events, but why would I become a true Sojourner if God knows how I feel about traveling?
The answer is simple: I have been called. There is no other reason I follow. Not for the adventures. Not for the beautiful sights. Not for the stamps in a passport. I have never cared for or about any of these things. I came truly for the ministry. It excites me! It makes my heart overflow. But traveling… it makes my stomach turn! But God is good and He gives us revelations that will rock our world. He blessed me with such a revelation during our travels from Romania to Moldova. The revelation came after a great blessing.
Romania was very hard for me. I struggled both physically and emotionally. I was not looking forward
to traveling at all. Honestly, the only traveling I wanted to do was come home. We left Romania at dawn on that Monday morning. The bus ride felt long, and I was struggling with depressed thoughts in my head. I was nervous. Nervous about the trip, nervous about my doctors visit, and nervous about how I would handle it all. As we traveled, I began to notice that the hills becoming mountains. Those of you that know me well, know that the mountains have my heart. They are a safe haven for me. I thrive there. The bus wound up the tall mountains and back down through the valleys. All the while I sat with God praising Him for the blessings of cool crisp air and beautiful new sights. We rounded a wide curve and the mountains were larger than I had ever seen. Gazing at the snow capped mountains and the quaint villages below, I could feel the love of Christ. My Heavenly Father was blessing me. He knew I needed to be revived. He knew I needed a sweet kiss from heaven. My bus of thirty 20 somethings became calm. We all took in the sights. Then out of nowhere the bus broke into song. They sang, "The Hills Are Alive" from The Sound of Music, my favorite movie. I BEGAN TO CRY! Seriously, I cried tears of Joy! It was a gift. I knew in my heart this was a gift to me from God. Wow. What a blessing!
I told my squad leader about this experience during a "check up" conversation. He asked me why I hated to travel. I had never really thought too hard about it. Why did I hate it? God spoke in that moment. A revelation. I am not trusting the Father. This is one more facet of my life I have not given Him. My past experiences as a child, as a teen, and even as an adult drive fear deep inside. Fear that is unnecessary. My heavenly Father is in control. He is teaching me that my life is not my own. It is His! And I am so very thankful. Thankful for a Sojourner's Revelation.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and TEMPORARY RESIDENTS to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that in a case where they speak against you as those who do what is evil, they will, by observing your good works, glorify God on the day of visitation.1 Peter 2:9-12
Blessings from a World Traveler,
Libby
