Every country I have ever been blessed to live in or visit there is always at least one person. There is one person who made it all worth it, one person who was so divenly put in my life even if it is just for a moment. There is always one person or moment that is precious, that God let our paths intersect for a life altering purpose, to show God’s love. That moment that God has put us both in the same little corner of the world, and it’s not by accident or coincidence. It’s purposeful and it’s divine. It’s so God can show up, so he can love his children, so he can shower HIS children with a love like no other, so he can do what only he can do, give his children eternal life.
And he blesses us as his disciples and children to be a little tiny part of it. He lets us witness his royalty and his power while he leads his children home, back to him. That is a life greater than I could have ever imagined. To get to wake up each morning knowing that I get to be a part of leading someone to Jesus. It is worth spending my whole day, my whole week, my whole year, even my whole life. I will give my whole entire life to walking with God and loving his children. And it may not seem like alot, and if you look at it on paper, the pros may not out-way the cons when using the lense of worldly standards that we are all born into. We all think it’s not worth it, we are broke, we are sinful, we live in a world that tells us it’s simply not worth it. It’s not worth the time, it’s not worth the money, it’s not worth living on different standards, it’s not worth your life.
But man, God says it is. He says it’s worth it. He says his children are worth it! God says his children are worth the sacrifice and he has shown us that not only does he say it, he backs it up with action.
He took that proclamation and got nailed on the cross for it. God let his son die on the cross so that he could bridge the gap between heaven and earth, so he could bring his children home. And Jesus loved and trusted God so much that he followed God’s lead, even when it got him killed. Jesus drank the cup that he was given, when he didn’t have to (Matthew 26:39). It simply wasn’t his to bear, it was ours. It was the sin that was going to send us all to hell, it was going to separate us for eternity from God our father. And God knew there was nothing we as humans could do, by nature we are sinful. So he sent his son, Jesus, who had nothing to separate him from God. He had no sin! He was with God! And he died the death that was destined for us, so that we could be with God too.
I get so overwhelmed when I just think about it, full of joy, hope, trust, and deep thankfulness knowing that Jesus did that for me. Knowing that even then I still may not trust in him.
So back to my point, there is always one person. It may not be everyday that you get to be a part of someone coming to Christ, but what if you get just one. It may not be this week or even this year but one day, there will be a person.
In the past few years I have been blessed to live in 8 countries. And in each of those countries God has let me meet at least one person who was so obviously put in my life by the Lord. Each for different reasons, sometimes it was for me. So I could be filled with love and pointed to Christ. Sometimes it was just to love someone a little more, and sometimes it was to be with them as they came to the feet of Jesus. Each just as important as the other.
Since being home I find myself thinking about the people I have met overseas. Today, I kept thinking of these two little boys I met on a prayer walk in this little town called Chimaltenango, Guatemala. We played soccer with marbles trying to avoid the crack in the dirt road that separates the houses. They gave me a lot of joy that day and taught me that sharing God’s love isn’t always complicated and scary. That day it was about meeting those kiddos where they were, in the middle of their football game.
And when I get frustrated I think of this little boy who came to the carepoint I got to work at in Swaziland, his name is Majahanga. He sometimes wasn’t the nicest to the other kids, but he had such a good heart. It took a minute after fights went down, but after a minute all he wanted was to be held. No matter how many times he pushed people away and didn’t trust the people around him, he came back every time.
When I think of Joy, I am reminded of my friend Peggy. She worked at the only coffee shop in our little mountain range community in Myanmar, and when we came into her shop she met us with undeserved love and joy. I think of the Christmas Eve we spent walking 4 miles up the mountain to a carnival that was in town, and I can hear her laughter and see her skipping up the road. I can literally see the grin that covered her face and the pure joy she held. I remember the nights we spent on the second floor of the coffee shop in the corner booth jamming to Taylor Swift in between customers coming in. It’s hard to find really good friends in this world, and Peggy was a really good friend. She made leaving Myanmar incredibly hard, because I knew I was leaving behind maybe one of the best friends I had ever had in my life. She was so pure and so loving.
There was this moment in Rwanda when the Lord confirmed that my life’s mission is to love people. I was walking home from collecting water at the well with a family and this little boy, probably only 4 years old, was carrying a large water jug that was really heavy. And I wanted to try to help him carry it, and for a split second the poor little boy didn’t understand, and it took a few minutes of broken english and broken Swahili to communicate that I wanted to carry it for him. And the whole way home this little boy held my other hand and kept his eye on his water jug in my other hand the whole time. But after the walk home was over, he gave me a big hug and man his eyes held so much grace and love. Love breads trust and vulnerability, and I forever want to be known for being a Woman of love.
Day after day and story after story of God simply showing up and leading us home.
My heart is full of hundreds of testimonies of my brothers and sisters meeting God in the villages across Africa, bustling downtowns of Asia, the streets of Central America, and right here in The United States.
I love my people and am so humbled to get to call them my family even from thousands of miles away. It lessens the hurt of being worlds away from people that have my heart, people who God used to completely up-root my life and lead me back to the Father. No matter where life takes me, I get to remember these people whom God has let my path cross with and trust that he will continue to give me people. That there is a purpose in itself. I have a purpose in the day to day. It makes me so excited to see what’s next because God has good plans for his children and I believe that with all that I am.
