I’ll admit it. Nashville seems like a pretty random place for me to move to. I’m writing this blog because I wanted to share with you all some of the kingdom-sized dreams that God has placed on my heart, and how Nashville fits into them. No, I haven’t received a word from the Lord about being the next big country artist, nor have I any intentions of breaking into the music industry. Instead, I believe that Nashville is a place where I will get more training and experience for future things. And although the story is still being written, allow me to share a portion of it with you.
Roatan, November 2015. I sat on the dock by Little French Key staring up at the clouds, attempting to do some Listening Prayer about what I was gonna do with my life after the race. It was only month three, but for Type A people such as myself it wasn’t too soon to begin structuring my 10 year plan. I was listening, but I wasn’t hearing very much. “God, I really need to know something here…” I could almost see a heavenly eye roll. I looked up at the sky and noticed that there were clouds all around except for where I was. The clouds seemed to frame a square that almost looked like a chalkboard. “Do you see the clouds?” Yes. Now THAT I can see. “If a cloud were to move into the blue square, you would be able to see it, right?” Um, yeah. I think I’m with ya so far. “When I tell you what to do or where to go, it will be as plain to you as a white cloud in a blue sky. It will be so clear, like writing on a chalkboard. Until then, wait.” Oh, ok. The words were comforting, but I kept praying (patience is an ever-continuing journey for me). I often see pictures when I pray, and one day I saw a picture very clearly, and so I drew it in my journal. I wrote off to the side all of the things that stood out to me in the picture, then put it away. My heart was finally at peace.
Vietnam, January 2016. I received a message from one of my best friends in the States who lived in Nashville, asking me if I would like to move to Nashville and room with her after the race. Although I wanted to jump into planning (the human heart’s desire for safety and security is extremely fierce), I remembered the picture from some months earlier. I dug it out of my journal and looked at it. I read the notes off to the side and asked the Lord if the cloud was moving. I felt true certainty that it was, and so I agreed. Little did I know, that it was only the beginning.
Malaysia, March 2016. Some of you may remember the story I recanted in “His Daughter First” of my first encounter with worship through dance. Ever since that encounter, I started looking around to see how God might be using it in the world for His glory. I have found dance being used as a ministry tool in almost every culture that we have encountered, and I can’t tell you how many conversations it has opened up with people everywhere. At training camp, one of the mentors told us , “You can do something and ask God to bless it, or you can find out what God is doing and get in on it, because that’s already blessed.” I see God blessing this art form, and I want to get in on it. Those of you who know how gracefully challenged I am, you can only imagine how terrifying it was to admit to myself that I wanted to take dance when I got back to the States. The thought of being so much older and struggling with steps that 4 year olds do easily was humiliating, but there is something about wanting to be in the place where God is moving and working that transcends humiliation. While in Malaysia, we took a trip to Kuala Lumpur and attended the Kingdom City Church. After the service, we were introduced to a number of people from the church, one of whom was a dancer, and head of the dance program at the church. She and I had a lovely conversation during which I explained my goals and asked if she knew of any teachers in the States. “Yes,” she said. “ One of my friends lives in Nashville.”
Thailand, April 2016. It was the first week, and Trail to Life camp was in full swing. The campers were having a soccer game, and I walked up to talk with one of the counsellors. I had heard that he had experience working in a refugee camp there in Thailand, and I was curious to hear about his experiences. Up to this point, I didn’t even know there was a camp in Thailand, or of the persecution of the Karen tribe in Burma. He started talking about the conditions in the camp, and my heart grew extremely heavy. The word “genocide” threw a blanket of darkness over me, and I suddenly had nothing to say. The conversation haunted me. “Is this happening all over the world and I just didn’t know about it? People being exterminated or displaced just because another ethnic group feels superior?” I was horrified at my ignorance and the political assumptions I had unconsciously made. I thought back to the trip I took to Chad, Africa in January 2015, and the Central African Republic refugees we had given care to while we were there. I wished that I had asked more questions. I began to educate myself and learned that there are many refugee camps in places such as Greece, Chad, Thailand, Kenya, and many others. People are relocated to these places mostly because they are trying to escape war, or extermination due to religious or political beliefs. They are pretty much outcasts in these camps, sometimes not being allowed to leave the camp or to be allowed asylum in the country where the camp is being held. I thought of the stories in the New Testament, and how much Jesus loves outcasts. I sat for a moment, then typed out a search about refugees in the US. Anyone want to take a guess what city consistently takes a substantial amount of refugees? You got it, Nashville, Tennessee.
Zimbabwe, May 2016. A few days later after I typed that search, I looked up the dance teacher that I heard about who lives in Nashville. The last post on her Facebook wall was a short video, a story of a young orphan refugee in Sierra Leone who came to the states and learned to dance. She authors a book now. Sometimes we say “Yes” not knowing how things are really going to turn out. We don’t know what conversation or experience is going to lead us to our next dream. Currently, I am planning to move to Nashville, room with my friend, gain experience in critical care, take dance lessons, and volunteer with refugee aid organisations in the Nashville area with the hopes of one day having enough experience to work in a refugee camp overseas. I don’t know how it’s all going to fit together, honestly. One thing I do know. When the cloud moves, I’ll move.
Exodus 13:21
“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way…”
Exodus 33: 13-18
“ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
