These are just some words that describe my experience in Malawi. Last month was my first time in Africa and it was completely different than what I ever imagined.
My team did Unsung Heroes last month. We traveled around Southern Malawi finding and connecting with new ministries so AIM can partner with and send new teams to serve alongside them. With that my visions of a WR month in Africa was turned upside down.
There were challenging moments last month with some potential ministry contacts and times when all I wanted was to be back with my family and friends. The frustrating moments came with traveling around Malawi and having to work with the transportation, which seemed to be impossible at times. There was frustration with people touching and poking me when I walked by and people yelling “baby girl” at me or “my wives” to all of us that followed with responses from me like “I’m not a child” or “I don’t believe in polygamy”.
But then came the stretching moments. With every challenging or frustrating thing that happened last month God used it to stretch me. He reminded me to see everyone as His children and to stop comparing them to the negative experiences I had with some ministries. There are still times when all I want to do is talk for hours with my momma or hug my dad and never let go or hear about everything that’s going on in my sister’s life while we’re walking her dogs or lifting together at the gym. But God is stretching me during this period away from them. He’s teaching me a lot about what it truly means, and sometimes feels like, to follow Him.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9.57-62)
God is asking me “How much are you going to give up for Me? Are you going to keep looking back at the life you had before the Race or are you going to be in the present with Me and trust that I have your future planned out?” When I find myself thinking about the life I had back at home I become homesick and uneasy, but when I look around at my team and try to imagine how God is going to use us and change us I get an overwhelming sense of peace.
Those questions aren’t just for me or any other Racer; they’re for everyone. They’re not for a one-time thing or a year long journey. God is calling us into this lifestyle. He is calling us to leave the places in our lives where we feel comfortable, say no to everything that is trying, or succeeding, to come before Him, and never look back at the life we leave behind to follow Him.
Forget the saying “No one ever said it’s going to be easy” because it’s a lie that many of us believe. Someone started the rumor that following Christ was going to be easy and glamorous and I would like show them Christ’s life because you will find no glamor or easiness. You will find persecution and heartache because the world hated him while he showed it love. And that’s the life we are called into. While we are being persecuted and are faced with heartache we can find hope in the fact that Jesus Christ went before us in all of it, and he will never leave us or forsake us.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16.33)
