“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Mathew 6:33
The arrival into South Africa was as if I had never left. The country has a piece of my heart that will never let go. There are so many memories, friends, beauties and places that I absolutely love.
We pulled into Alabanza; which means praise in Spanish; and were greeted by half of the world racers that arrived two days prior. Alabanza is an South African/AIM base that hosts hundreds of missionaries and guests each year. It is the central base just outside of Johannesburg and is run by a group of South African missionaries headed up by a woman named Dini.
Dini is a sister in Christ who I had heard about last year when we came to the base. I unfortunately was not able to meet her because I had been held up in Kenya due to lack of passport pages. I guess it wasn’t Gods timing.
After dinner and announcements Dini was center stage for her testimony. I am not going to go into deep detail because this is just something you have to pray that the Lord would let you be a part of. Dini led a very hard life of sickness and seizures that was diagnosed as incurable. Dini reached the ultimate low and gave everything to the Lord and cried out for Him to heal her. She was immediately healed in Jesus name.
After Dini’s healing, she was off and running as a news reporter and wanted to explore. Dini decided it was time to go out and experience God. She decided to train to climb Mount McKinley in Alaska with a group of climbers from South Africa. This is a women that has never climbed really anything and she was set to go with a team to Mount McKinley.
On Mount McKinley, Dini experienced something that forever changed her life. She climbed most of the way up the mountain with the crew of 5 but had to stop. She was not experientially equipped to climb the intense vertical ice, so the climbers decided that the safest thing for her and another climber would be to stay back.
While they stayed back Dini had fallen deep into two crevasses, nearly frozen to death and towards the end had receive altitude sickness. Altitude sickness is incurable unless taken to a lower altitude. Towards the end of their journey Dini believes that as she lay in her sleeping bag, passed on and was in the presence of the Lord.
As Dini walk in a place that she had never been, all she could feel was complete and utter peace. She said that there was nothing on this planet that could give the feeling that she felt. As she walked in a place of perfection she turned a corner and saw an image that was so glorious that she threw herself to the ground. She couldn’t see the image but the presence; that was Jesus Christ; was so powerful and glorious that she wept on the ground.
I sat in amazement listening to this testimony as the presence of the Lord fell all around me. I could feel the presence that she felt. I could feel the love that only God can give. The love at that moment was so intense that tears welled up deep within me. Dini continued to tell the story of her coming back to this life and was given one thing to do. “Tell them what I am truly like.”
I could feel what the Lord was truly like. I could feel that the Love that God has for every single person on this planet is inexpressible. What He urns for is that exact relationship. The relationship that says I love you and I know it.
That is the magical mystery that holds so many back in this world. They strive for love in all the wrong places. When so many do find it, it stops at a certain point because our minds take over. We limit the love that God has for us when all our Father wants is for us to receive His love. Not only to say that I understand that my Father loves me, but to say that I was created to be loved. God loved me first and to know that you know that you know that He loves you more than anything. More than anything that if you were the only person on this planet that God would still have sent His one and only Son to die on the cross for your sins.
I know that I am the apple of my Fathers eye and that I was created to be loved. I know that my job is to do the same thing that His Son did and share that love with others. To be love to others. I am so blessed to be called to this life and I thank my Father in heaven that I can proudly say that I am a son of God.
Blessings and love from South Africa.
