This is a story of God’s protection and provision.
On May 12th, 2015, our squad was camping out in the foothills of the Himalayas (a surreal experience). We started the morning with removing the pile of rubble that now occupied the spot a church once laid after the earthquake just 17 days prior. We were sitting around, finishing up lunch, when the ground began to shake. It was the craziest feeling as everyone around me sat firmly on the ground for safety. The sound of the earth groaning as it shifted beneath us rang until everything was still and eventually the crickets and birds started sounding again. I saw a cloud of dust come up from the village below us from the landslide that occurred right underneath us. Several of my squadmates reacted quickly by running down to see if they could help, while the rest of us packed up camp per our squad leaders instructions. We all made the grueling hike back up the mountain with all of our belongings, stopping a few times during the continued aftershocks. Once we made it to the top, we were blessed with a giant white tent that was just erected for a World Food Program. After we were all gathered again, our squad leaders encouraged us to pray over if we should go out to help or stay back and pray. My immediate reaction is to want to go out to help -disaster relief has been something I’ve been mulling over for awhile. As I prayed about it though, I felt like The Lord was telling me to stay. So, I obeyed, and in those next few hours, I had the opportunity to worship Him along a few of my friends, pray over the people of my Nepal and my friends who went out to the village, and comfort some sweet Nepali kids.
I was trying to get something out of my backpack kind of conspicuously when I felt eyes on me. I turned around and 2 girls were standing directly behind me staring at me. When we made eye contact, they managed to giggle out, “What’s your name?” We exchanged pleasantries, and yet still, they just sort of awkwardly stared. So I gave up on retrieving this item from my bag and found my deck of cards instead. I pulled them out and asked if they knew how to play. As I began to shuffle, more kids gathered around. As they taught me this new game that I somehow always won, even more gathered around. Cards turned into singing, which turned into dancing. What a sweet memory of doing life with these kids that were just so deeply effected by the earthquake.
“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”
(?Psalm? ?30?:?11-12? ESV)
Throughout the course of the day, so many things could have turned out differently. We could’ve been scattered across the worksite inside the church rubble when the earth quake hit. The landslide could have been right above us instead of below us. We could’ve been wondering around the mountain top without a place to stay for hours. I could’ve gone out into the village and been scarred forever by the sounds of screaming and the sights of destruction. But instead, God protected my entire squad and provided for us over and over again like the loving father he always proves to be.
