Today started off being just a normal day. It’s day two of month 8 debrief and my squad is in Kathmandu, Nepal. We had a session this morning as a squad, but after that I had a free day. I was super excited about it because my plan was to have as much alone time as possible. I wanted to go to a coffee shop and have some good one-on-one time with Jesus. I was craving it.
One of my squad mates, Klarissa (klarissastovall.theworldrace.org) wanted to do the same thing, so we went together. That’s the funny thing about the race, “alone time” is never really alone time because of the buddy system. So if you need that alone time, you get very good at just ignoring everyone around you.
We walked to a nearby coffee shop, sat down, and both went into our own little worlds. I have been trying to upload the India ministry video all month and was determined to get it uploaded today. By the grace of God, it uploaded! I was also able to post my pictures of Nepal to my facebook page. After that was finished, I got out my journal and started writing for pretty much the first time in a few weeks. I started processing through all that I learned this month- but more on that later.
As I was journaling, two men sitting at a table nearby had caught my attention, mostly because they were American- or so I thought was the reason. A little while later, Klarissa pointed out that they were praying together. As we don’t come across a lot of other Christians we don’t know publicly praying on the race, it stood out to us. As I turned back around I couldn’t help but notice that they looked somewhat distressed. It was in that moment that I felt the Lord telling us to go pray for those two men.
Though it scared me to death to walk up to two random strangers and ask them if we could pray for them, we did. I made a very awkward introduction and told them that we were missionaries with the world race. We told them that we felt like God was telling us to pray for them and asked if we could lay hands on them and pray. They were accepting and looked even relieved. So we prayed.
I was so nervous, my hand was shaking on the poor man’s shoulder, but we prayed anyway. We prayed for many things and when the time was up, we even talked with them a little bit about who we are and where we’ve been so far. They were very nice, down to earth guys. As the conversation came to an end they thanked us for the prayers. It was really cool because after praying their countenance was completely changed. They seemed more at peace.
I shook for several minutes afterwards. I thanked God that He gave me the words and the strength to be able to approach random strangers and pray for them without passing out! It was a scary thing to do, but it was such a rewarding experience. As the race goes on, God continues to push me outside of my comfort zone. It’s hard and challenging, but the growth from it is so worth it!
When I was telling the story later on to some of my squad mates, they helped me to see that one of the men was actually David Platt, pastor and author of the book “Radical”! I couldn’t believe it. I met David Platt and I didn’t even know who he was at the time!
This was God’s grace towards me. The day before I had really been struggling with my purpose in Nepal. The month was frustrating and my hardest month so far on the race. I was almost ready to give up, but one of my alumni squad leaders told me to ask God to redeem this month for me here, in debrief. I felt like this interaction was God starting to do just that. God is not far, in fact, He’s very near and He’s still speaking to me. I am blown away by His goodness.
I want to encourage you, if God’s asking you to step out in faith for something and you’re scared, do it anyway! As one of my other squad mates, Karah (karahpark.theworldrace.org) said, “Moral of the story, step out and watch the cool encounters God gives you. You may meet one of your favorite authors in a coffee shop in Nepal.”
