I'm from South Florida. We have summers that push 100 degrees Fahrenheit, wIth humidity levels so high that walking outside and feels like walking into a sauna. I studied in Gainesville, Florida where there is NO breeze — where students don't wear grey T shirts during summer because of the horribly revealing sweat marks. I thought I knew heat. But Florida's got nothing on God's HOT Malaysia. Ya see, the difference is in So Fla is we walk from an air conditioned house, into an air conditioned car, into an air conditioned wherever-we-are-going. In Malaysia, we relish the moments we stand in front of the open refrigerator at the gas station buying a COLD bottle of water. (The water we drink from the water filter at home is room temperature.) And we celebrate the moments we spend shopping in the 'nice' grocery store across town, because there is A/C there. I arrange my daily meal times to avoid being outside between the hours of 11:30am and 3pm. It's.just.THAT.hot.
I have jokingly told friends from home that I am living "like a monk" this month. Why? Because all we do is pray and sweat! 😉 Pray and sweat. Take a break to eat and sleep. And then pray and sweat some more 🙂
And these are definitely the most 'humble' accommodations I've had yet on the Race: 13 of us in a 2 bedroom unfurnished house, sleeping shoulder to shoulder with my teammates on sleeping pads on the floor, bucket shower, squatty potty –need I say more? But, honestly, it's been GOOD. Really. You'd be surprised how quickly you can adapt. (I sure was! The 1st day I thought I was gonna flip out living here for a whole month, but now it's normal.) God's Hot Malaysia has been good to me.
So yeah, we've been praying for a lot of people– in our neighborhood, in their living rooms, at church, at dinner tables, in hospital beds, and in our hot, crowded little house. God's been answering our prayers for other people and He's been answering MY personal prayers to go deeper and grow more and get to know Him more!
So here are some of the new revelations I got for ya:
- I have learned the value of just "sitting" before God and learning to just chill and hang out with Him.
Ya see, we Americans are trained that action = productivity and productivity –> success. But, like people say in 'World Race culture': The Kingdom of Heaven is upside down. Everything the world says, take it & flip it upside down, and pretty much- that's what the Kingdom says.
The world says, 'Stay busy!' and 'Don't be still- that's doing nothing! Doing nothing is bad! Get your lazy butt, get up and DO something!' But the Kingdom says 'Be still and know that I am God' -Psalm 46:10 Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that God wants us to be lazy sloths who just sit around, taking up space & oxygen. He's got plans for us- He's got stuff He wants us to do, for sure. But He needs us to SIT sometimes, so He can actually tell us. And sometimes, ya know, He just wants to chill with us. He doesn't want us to DO anything for Him, He just wants us to sit with Him and bask in His presence.
My mentor & Squad Coach, Marcy Dawson, told me once that:
"When you quiet yourself before God and just sit with Him, He downloads stuff into you. Even when you don't feel anything happening at all, and you think that you're just wasting your time, and you can't seem to 'quiet your mind', and you even get frustrated thinking that 'you're not doing it right' –He's is downloading things into you. He is filling you up, even if you don't feel it. And one day, you'll find something inside of you that wasn't there before and you'll wonder, 'Where did that come from?' –and it came from that time that you invested sitting with Him! Nothing you try to do for God goes to waste. He uses everything!"
I've been someone that has been addicted to activities my whole life.
My name is Christina and I am an activity addict.
It's true! I'm I have been prisoner to the captivity of activity! And so learning to be still and just chill with my Heavenly Dad has been sweet.
And here's a few more lessons that I just kinda just at above:
- Nothing goes to waste for God. Nothing. He uses everything.
Every detail, every memory, every heartbreak and broken dream and crazy story from your past –He uses all of it! If you let Him, He will redeem all of it. He'll use it for GOOD in your life and potentially in the lives of others. Like my ever wise and witty, dread-lock rockin' squadmate Kenzie Kelley once said, "I love how God takes my crap and turns it into beautiful art for someone else." So true.
ALSO a lesson I can chalk up to Kenzie's God-breathed insight:
- Trying out calling God "Dad"
This one struck me as strange, not gonna lie. But hear me out: so many of us have wrapped our heads around the idea that God is our 'Heavenly Father'. Yeah, got it. But MOST of us have NOT wrapped our heads around the fullness of the fact that we are His sons & daughters. We are his kids. You are his kid!
More than you are anything else, you are His beloved, worthy, whole, and valued son or daughter — with whom He is so pleased and proud. You are the apple of his eye! He has your picture on His fridge up in Heaven! 😉 Even if u never did another thing, He would still love you and be just as proud of you. Simply because you are His kid. And that's the most true thing about you.
Many of us find our identities in what we do (jobs/careers) or who we are to other people (mother/father/husband/wife/friend/etc) –but if all of that were stripped away… we'd STILL be His kids. And Kenzie says that calling Him 'Dad' when she prays has brought her relationship with her Heavenly Dad to an all new level of closeness. So I tried it- and it's been so good! 🙂
<Now I know the word 'Dad' probably conjures up a lot of emotions, good or bad, happy or sad — but I challenge you to put all that aside and just try it. He'll redeem the word for you and He'll use it to bring you closer to Him. If you don't trust me, trust Kenzie. She's so wise. She's like a little dreaded buddha! 😉 hah >
Whatelse?
Oh, yeah- this one has been a DOOZY…
God has been hammmmmerrring this into me over the past month:
- You can't hang onto anyyyything in this world too tightly. Hold nothing with a clenched fist. Hold eeeeeeverything with an open hand.
Like if you were holding sand. You can't hold a handful of sand in a clenched fist, you have to cup your hand to hold it; otherwise it'd just slip through your fingers.
We gotta let go of our death-grips on the stuff that God's blessed us with and learn to hold everything: our belongings, our relationships, our jobs, our hopes and dreams, our expectations for ourselves -everrrryyything in an open hand — palms up towards heaven. This way, we are offering it all up to Him. And… if and when He sees fit… He can take it from our open hands and replace it with something BETTER! And if we don't believe that He'll only take it in order to replace it with something better, then we need to take a good hard look at our view of who He is, because He tells us He is a GOOD Father who gives us GOOD gifts. And if we don't trust Him enough to hold everything loosely, then we don't trust what a GOOD God He really is.
Yeah. Put THAT in your theological pipe n smoke it. Hah! Its some heavy stuff.
But that's what I've been learning, and ya know what I find is the hardest to put out there in an open palm?
Its those damn expectations for ourselves!
Especially being trained as an athlete, straight-A student, salesperson, trainer, and entrepreneur– the world has told me that expectations are everything! But ya gotta hold it all in an open hand.
So yeah- that's what I've been learning here in God's Hot Malaysia. Sweating a lot. Learning a lot.
And if some of this hold-everything-loosely & sit-with-God stuff sounds very 'monk-like', remember — this monk gave you a disclaimer in the 2nd paragraph 😉
I absolutely LOVE hearing your comments and feedback, so please (if you've read this far 😉 — lemme know what you're learning, how I can pray for you, or what God is speaking to you through the ramblings of this sweaty American monk living in God's hot Malaysia 😉
Eating noodles, praying, sweating, and sending you lots of love….
Christina 🙂
