This month has been different. I guess coming into it, I was excited to finally get to Asia. I had expectations of being in my element and seeing the Lord do more awesome stuff than I’d seen the first 2 months of the race. I don’t mean that He didn’t do amazing things in New Zealand or Australia. I just had different expectations for how God would move in a culture that differs from the western culture that we’d been living in.
When we got here, I was pleasantly surprised by yet another month of having a nice place to stay, which includes a bed, bathroom, and plenty of fans to cool us off (if that’s possible in 90 degree weather). I was also excited about the idea of being with the entire squad for a month. So, it started out as a month with a lot of specific expectations, which is interesting based on past posts.
I guess what I wanted to share is how God woke me up to the reason for me being here. I was going about life with a “business as usual” attitude. Thankfully, God doesn’t let me stay there. A few days ago there was what you could call an “outbreak”� of some sort of stomach virus at the children’s home where 3 of our teams are working (my team included). There were about 20 kids that got the virus and lovingly shared it with some of the racers as well. I must say selfishly, my prayer life was EXTREMELY diligent for a while because I don’t do well with stomach bugs…not my favorite!
So, I sucked it up and went to the children’s home for my shift and was pretty quickly hit with the gravity of the situation. The front of the home which was usually filled with kids running and playing everywhere, was desolate. There was no laughter, or joyful screaming. It was weird. I walked up to the building and found a chair to sit in until I figured out what I needed to do. Soon, one of the staff came over and asked the racers if we could get together to pray for a few of the kids who were really sick. Of course we said yes. Again, in my head I was praying really hard because I REALLY didn’t want this stuff!
We got a team together and we walked up the steps to pray. When I walked in the room I instantly stopped thinking about my own wants. I looked around and each bed had a little body in it, most of them were visibly miserable. My heart broke. In that moment I was no longer worried about a stupid virus…I wanted to bring healing. I sat on one of the beds with a girl named Pauline. She was stripped down to her underwear, and when I touched her side I was shocked at how feverishly hot she was. We began to pray for the Lord to bring healing, comfort, and restoration into her little body. It was rough.
As we left the room, continuing to pray for kids, it hit me really hard that I was in an orphanage. For the past few weeks I’ve been in the mindset that these kids are better off than most kids in this community. They have plenty to eat every day. They have nice clothes and shoes to wear. They are getting an education. And they are surrounded by good Christian influences on a daily basis. But as I looked around I realized that none of these kids had a mommy to come in and take care of them. There wasn’t a family member to come hold them and comfort them. It hurt me.
I was reminded, yet again, that things aren’t like God intended them to be. There are over 30 kids that I’ve been caring for that are here because they’ve experienced things that I can’t even imagine…and most of them aren’t even 10 years old yet. I’ve gotten to love these kids and show them what real love looks like despite what they’ve been shown in the past.
I almost missed it. I almost let this month slip by without realizing that God is allowing me to heal wounds. He’s using me to show love. I have gotten the chance to represent Jesus. God was moving the whole month, but I was looking in the wrong places. I’m glad He gives me a little bit of a nudge sometimes so that I don’t miss what He’s doing around me.
