I first and foremost must apologize for my lack of writing! Malaysia should’ve been the perfect month for writing because we had a pretty easy ministry schedule, but I somehow managed to always put off blog writing. So, here it is.
MALAYSIA. What a happy surprise. This was probably the one county on the race that I had no particular excitement or expectations for. Lucky for me, God had big plans for me this month.
I will look back on Malaysia as a game changer. It was a game changer not just for my race, but for my Christian walk. Our hosts so intentionally poured into us and cultivated a safe environment to ask questions and grow. They prayed amazing and intense prayers over us, and I soaked up every bit of it.
I took advantage of the light schedule: I completed 4 books last month, burned through a chunk of my bible, journaled through what the Lord was teaching me, talked through spiritual topics/ questions with my team regularly, and began to learn how to play guitar. Through everything, my relationship with the Lord catapulted forward. I feel as though I grew more spiritually last month than I had in the previous 5 months combined, and I feel like that is quite the statement because there was tremendous growth in those months too.
“God is infinite. There is always more of Him to be had.” This Matt Chandler quote has been a favorite of mine for the past year and half, yet somehow, I’m still amazed by my continued growth as He draws me closer. At every point, I feel like this has to be as good as it gets because I can’t imagine it being any greater than this, but somehow He reveals more of himself to me, and it blows my mind.
At the beginning of the month, I wrote this in my journal, “I pray that the Lord reveals Himself to me in new ways that are nothing short of miraculous. I pray that any and all walls of mine will be broken down. I pray that He will reveal a spiritual gift to me, and it will be so supernaturally obvious there will be no doubt in my mind. I pray that I be a sponge that soaks up every bit of knowledge I can but that I have discernment in confirming everything with the Lord. I pray for a constant focus and fire that does not grow weary but thrusts me full force in the hands of Jesus. I pray that the Lord would break my heart this month to mend it to look more like His.” At the end of the month, it was amazing to see how the Lord had answered these bold prayers for me above and beyond anything I was expecting.
It started at one of the very first worship nights we had, and our team experienced “freestyle worship” for the first time. As our host played on the guitar no particular song but just the chords the spirit was leading him to, we were free to sing out the words God put on our hearts. At the end of the night, he got the words for me “noble character.” The next week, at another worship night, our other host prayed a spiritual gift over me and received other words that hit home for me. That weekend, a few of my teammates took a weekend trip to a nearby island, and I had an insane worship experience out in the waves by myself for 2 or 3 hours. More worship nights followed the next week with prayers and new songs on my heart. The next weekend, we visited PenHOP (International House of Prayer in Penang, Malaysia). At this worship night, I connected on a deep level with the Spirit in which all of the worship songs kept connecting with my heart and the words would reflect something I had just written down. A man prayed another spiritual gift over me and received words that again spoke right to me. The rest of the month continued with story after story like that, and I was blown away by these beautiful moments with the Lord.
While I am so appreciative to our hosts for walking me through this, I know that it is all the Lord, and they would totally agree. I’m actually kind of upset that I wasn’t at this point in my relationship with the Lord sooner. So, what I’m trying to say is you don’t have to come to Malaysia and stay with these incredible people to grow exponentially and to experience the Lord in new and incredible ways.
Ask for it.
Pray bold prayers, run wholeheartedly after Him, and expect Him to show up. He won’t disappoint.
