I had the opportunity to spend a week in Dublin, Ireland for The Awakening which was an opportunity for current World Racers and alumni to gather and dig deeper. We had several worship services and breakout sessions. I found through this time that God provided and showed me new ways to cultivate my personal relationship with Christ. I want you to understand what this means just because I am a missionary and I am on the World Race does not mean we are in church all the time being fed. I have to say that I was probably being intentionally fed more at home with attending church and bible study. So, with that being said I have finally taken responsibility for my own cultivating of my relationship with Christ. I have found that while doing ministry we pour into people constantly which requires us to fill ourselves with Christ. Another obstacle is attending church in another language other than English, this requires us to truly focus on what Christ is saying through His word.
So, while in Ireland, Kimberly and I were walking from the campground to the hotel where the conference was being held. A gentleman was outside of the campground and asked us how long the walk was to the hotel, we explained we were headed that way if he would like to join us (For those of you that are parents you are probably thinking those two girls should not have been talking to that strange man but it was in daylight and many people were around and more importantly as you will see Christ was in the middle of this one!!) We started walking together and he is asking us why we are in Ireland. We explain that we are missionaries on a 11 month, 11 country mission trip and that we are visiting Ireland for a week for a conference. He shares that he worked in Rwanda in the 90’s during the genocide and saw so much devastation and believes in God. He went on to share that he believes that Buddhism is the best religion out there because you can basically do whatever makes you feel good. We went on to explain that Christianity is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ not so much rules. We discussed the importance of a personal relationship and how that differs for everyone. He went on to say, “Do you mind if I share with you what has happened recently in my life?â€� I was more than happy to listen. He went on to explain that he had found his wife in bed with another man 8 weeks ago and was battling with how to deal with this. They have a 2 year old son. At that moment I realized God was using my circumstances to help someone else, possibly a divine appointment for me. I went on to explain that I went through a divorce 2 years ago and my husband of 6 years had cheated on me. He asked me how do you get through something like that? I had a one word answer for him, GOD. I explained that no matter how much my family and friends tried to help, there was nothing that they could truly do to heal my broken heart. I explained that it was a process that encompassed changing every part of my life. I explained there were times when I would cry myself to sleep because of the feelings involved with the divorce but I knew that my Heavenly Father had his arms wrapped around me at all times!! He went on to share that he is dealing with the court proceedings and battling with his wife about custody of their son. I encouraged him to look upward to God when he needs guidance and to rely on a relationship with his heavenly father. By this point we had reached the hotel and we said our goodbyes.
