Africa Calling

                   

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that Africa captured my heart the first time I set foot on it. Africa is frequently on my mind, and I long to visit the friends that I have made there. I am fascinated with the cultures and would love to experience the different regions of the continent. There’s just something about Africa.

In the year and a half since I have been home from the World Race, I have looked for every opportunity imaginable to get back overseas. I love being on the field, and I can’t get it out of my mind. But everywhere I have turned, God closed the door in front of me. I’ve had many opportunities to lead overseas trips for AIM. I’ve even browed other organization’s sites just to see if something stood out to me. But in every one of these situations, I did not have God’s peace. I knew that it was my desire and not the Lord’s will. So I’ve waited.

The waiting can feel suffocating at times, but I know that it would be a disaster to go to any of those places in my own will. So I’ve waited.

A couple of months ago, a friend from Seattle called me up and told me about her plans to travel around Africa for the summer. She talked about the time she will spend in Kenya using her nursing skills along with a Kenyan friend. She talked about meeting her church team in South Africa and leading them into Zimbabwe for a few weeks. Then it got really interesting.

She asked me if I would like to meet her in Johannesburg to spend the last three weeks in South Africa and Swaziland. And the instant she asked the question, I had peace. In my spirit, I heard God say yes. It is time. I believe that God has finally opened a door for me to return to the nations, and even the land that has captured my heart.

A few weeks after I spoke with my friend, I got another interesting phone call; another connection. During my brief stay with my parents after the race, I connected with a guy that had worked with AIM back in the early days. He is now running a recovery program in Pennsylvania near my parents. It turns out that he just returned from a visit to South Africa where felt God was leading him to launch his recovery program there. It was approved. I felt like this was God’s confirmation that I was on the right track.

It may seem like a loose connection until you see where God has been leading me. I volunteered with KAIROS prison ministry in Seattle, and loved it. I had a friend in Seattle that invited me to AA meetings, and I loved the community and support that I found there. I’ve been learning a lot about spiritual recovery and healing through my mentor. I just spent a week in Philly with our ComLife team, where I spent most of my days in conversation with the members of a local AA chapter. Just a couple of weeks ago, I met a new friend in Gainesville who invited me to go along to an AA meeting. I intend to return.

I feel like God has been leading me and preparing me for this type of ministry for a while, and I am only now starting to put the pieces together. I’ve never been an addict of drugs or alcohol, but we all have addictions of some sort. Some of us are addicted to approval, some to control, some to attention, some to drama, some to food, some to entertainment. We all have something that we run to in order to escape out pain. More than that, I am beginning to recognize that the emotional issues we struggle with are the same. We cope with them differently for several reasons, but the issues are the same.

Most addicts struggle with feelings of worthlessness, of shame, of failure. So do I. We have believed that we are not enough, that we don’t measure up, that we are incapable of success. We have believed that we are unacceptable, unlovable, and unforgivable. We have believed many things, but ultimately we have believed that we are not who God says that we are. I am in the process of replacing these false identities with the truths of who God made me. I am who He made me, even if I am currently presenting something else. The truth is always the truth whether we believe it or not. So I am learning that I am created in His image, and that I am forgiven, and that I am lovely, and that I am accepted, and that I am beautiful, and capable, and successful, and victorious in Him.

A few weeks ago in my reading, God lead me to Isaiah 58.

^{Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
to let the oppressed to free,
and that you break every yoke?}

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and He will say, “Here I am.” 

I believe what God is telling me is that I have a responsibility to share what He is teaching me, and to help set other captives free. And in doing that, my own healing will be made complete.

I don’t have any definite plans with the recovery program, but I am staying in touch to see where it leads. There are already two other American families whom I met in South Africa during the World Race that are considering joining his efforts. Perhaps there is a reason why I met them before. I plan to meet up with them again in South Africa to discuss the possibilities. As for now, I don’t have a lot of details about what I will be doing in Africa but I know that I am going. We will explore the ministries we know and hopefully find some new ones along the way. I know that God is doing something, so I will follow His lead and see where He takes me.

Please join me in prayer about the details of this trip and also the funding. Because this trip is not organized by AIM, I cannot use money from my support account to pay for it. I will have to raise funds for this trip independently. I am estimating that the trip will cost me about $2000 – $2500. We would like to buy some medical supplies and help where we can. If you have any questions, please call or email me. Thank you for your encouragement along this journey.