When my team was first given our ministry for our time in Nepal, I was a little nervous. We were told that we will be spending one week in a city living with a local pastor and His family. After that time, we would be hiking for three days to a remote village up in the mountains. We would be caring our packs and our food, and we would be bathing in rivers. We’ll have no electricity. Even though this is how I imagined most of my race to be, this was the first time I would actually be experiencing it and I was a little confused and scared.
Now that we have been told a little more information, I am super excited for this adventure. We will be hiking for three days, up the side of a mountain. At the end of each hike day, we will be visiting a local church and encouraging the believers there. We will stay with them overnight and then the next day we will continue on. On our last hike day, we will get the village Khairang. We will be living there for one week. We will be painting the church, visit believers in their homes to encourage them, and even help with goat herding. (I don’t know exactly how that last one works, but we will see I guess=))
The people of Khairang lived in the caves just 30 years ago. They came down from the caves and set up this village. We are super excited to be able to go to them. I know that this month is going to be an uphill climb (quite literally) and it’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be worth it. I can tell. God even gave me confirmation about that.
During our last week of ministry in India, we did a listening prayer exercise for one of our team times. What we do is put everyone’s name on a piece of paper. We put all the names into a hat. Then we each draw one paper. We do not look at the paper, but just hold onto it. Then we have a time of prayer with the Lord. We ask Him to speak to us for the unknown person. We write down anything we feel that the Lord is speaking, whether it’s a note, scripture verses, song lyrics, or even visions. When we are finished, we look at the name and write it on the paper. We’ll do this usually three times, for three different people. After we have completed the rounds, then we read our papers to the person who we had. It’s really cool.
One of my papers I did not fully understand when I got it, but I tucked it away to take it to the Lord in prayer and see what He says. I hadn’t heard anything about this word until we were told what our ministry would be in Nepal. That same night, I found this word again and was amazed at God’s Sovereignty. He really has it all under control. Here is what it said:
“Climbing and moving mountains. Ask for feet for the path.
Remember to take just one step at a time. It will be climb, but worth it.
Going higher.”
Now I’m going to be hiking a mountain with my pack- something I’m not super excited about. But God knew that I would need encouragement to get through this, and He gave it to me a week before I even knew I would need it. How amazing is that?! Though I know the road ahead is going to be challenging, I am super excited for what’s to come. I believe God is going to rock my world this month. I’m confident that I will be a completely new person after this experience and I am really looking forward to how God works in my life and the lives of those around me this month. Stayed tuned to see what happens! =)
