“Love amazing, your love has saved me. Oh how beautiful. How beautiful.”
We have made it to South America! We landed in Bolivia yesterday morning after a very long travel from Rwanda to South Africa to Brazil to Chile then to Bolivia! 4 planes, 3 layovers, 4 countries, minimal sleep and somehow a ton of energy.
Just before our travel to our FINAL CONTINENT, my parents flew out to Rwanda to join me in an action pack week titled Parent Vision Trip (PVT). The Lord moved in amazing ways that week in myself, my parents and my squad mates parents.
It was a crazy week filled with building new roads, blessing Rwandan schools with new books, playing with children, dancing and praising the Lord in African church, riding in a jeep on a 12 hour safari, building relationships with the locals and spending quality time with my parents.
The Lord moved in amazing ways in the hearts of everyone involved in PVT. I saw some parents’ walls come down, some parents’ heart open, some parents’ spirits come alive and some parents’ begin the process of reconciliation with their child. The parents had to endure cold showers, squatty potties, repetitive meals, and community was cultivated through that in a beautiful way.
I saw us as squad mates rally together, love the parents well, invite them into a life we have loved living for the past seven months and fight for their hearts.
I saw my parents’ hearts break for the community and fall in love with how beautiful God is. I saw my mom love the children so hard and my dad speak words of wisdom to the PVT group. I saw the three of us love each other well and enjoy serving the Lord together. God whispered to my heart in new ways that have helped me shift from feeling like an orphan without a home to a daughter perfectly secure in my heavenly Father’s love.
GOD IS SO GOOD.
After eating lunch with our new host near the airport in Bolivia we all piled in a van and drove to a hostel for the night. Exhaustion set in. My eyes were bloodshot, my limbs felt like lead and I was so excited to pass out on anything resembling a bed. I rested my head on my backpack just as I heard our driver say, “To your right is La Paz.” I picked my head up, looked out the window and my jaw dropped.
La Paz is a city that sits in a huge valley surrounded by mountains. We were driving alongside the top of the valley and got a panoramic view of red brick buildings tucked in on the side of the hills and packed all the way down into the valley. The mountains in the background touched the clouds and staggered all around the red brick buildings. A cable car stretches across the city above the brick buildings transporting people across the valley. My heart filled with awe. Those moments when your jaw drops in light of God’s beauty are my favorite. All I knew to do was worship. I was listening to a song at that time that sang over how beautiful the Lords love is.
“Love amazing, your love has saved me. Oh how beautiful. How beautiful.”
South America, I have already fallen in love with you. More so though, I have fallen more and more in love with my Heavenly Father and how beautiful he is.
He is so beautiful. He is Father that creates wonderful cities like La Paz. He is a Father that sculpts beautiful snow capped mountains. He is a Father that tells the ocean to stop at the shore. He is so beautiful.
He is the Father of every single heart walking the streets of La Paz. He is a Father of reconciliation and wants to restore relationships. He is a Father that fights for his people no matter the cost. He is a Father that has led me on this journey since day one, giving me strength to do every day. He has blessed me by allowing me to experience the power of the gospel, experience the beauty of his creation and the joy of relationships. He is a Father who never gives up on us. He is a Father that wants to spend time with us, wants to hear our heart. He is so beautiful.
We have four months left and I know God wants to do even bigger things these next four months. There are people even in these next four months that the Lord wants to reach. We head out to a village in the jungle in a couple of hours for three weeks. We will be preaching the gospel to the unreached and building relationships with the people in the villages. Pray that the Lord gives us endurance and joy.
Sometimes I cannot wrap my head around this year. The idea that the Lord chose me. What? Me?! That idea humbles me to no end. He has given me strength when I did not have it, peace when I could not find it and endurance when I did not want it. He has also blessed me immensely along the way with adventure, friendships and laughter. The places I have been, the people I have met, the ways the Lord has moved. Thinking of all my squad mates and how much they have shaped me. New sights like La Paz bring it all up in a moment of unexplainable love and awe for God.
Jesus I love you so much. Thank you for inviting me to do this year with you. Let your light shine. In my life Lord, be lifted high.
