this only do I seek:
that I
may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to
gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.”
Psalm 27:4
As I have been reflecting back on my time here, God took me on a trip down memory lane that reminded me of who He is in my life, in this land, and how He provides for people. I feel honored to have seen all the beauty of WHO HE IS, and how He has shown this to me in big and small ways these past months. I’m excited to share this with you all!
I kind of feel like Mary; when it says “she treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart”….that is what God has been teaching me to do. To store the beauty of Him in my heart, to treasure the things I have had the opportunity to see and learn from, and now share it with others.
Part of me selfishly wants to keep these experiences between me and the Lord…but I’ve realized that’s not fair. For a time it was a way God really drew me into Himself, spoke to me and showered me with His love…and I have praised Him for that time! But now He’s telling me it’s time to share the stories, heartache and memories that He inspired.
An excerpt from my journal: Random thoughts about Africa
“ It’s easy to let your mind think that these things we see aren’t real..to begin to think that way and live in that…to feel so different from people, but pretend that you’re not. To see the hurt, pain, joy and gladness and not even begin to understand their lives. Sometimes though, you feel like you’re going through the same things -you empathize and love them so deeply, you feel the burden and you want with everything in you to carry that burden: to have it be you that is suffering, you that has to worry about feeding the mouths of a whole family the next day, you that takes the abuse from a drunk husband of a beautiful woman (who never did a thing to deserve anything but love). You to truly know what hunger feels like, to know what being sick really means. You to learn to trust God through the most tragic and heart breaking circumstances…..These are the things that I have tried and wanted to take the burden of, that I have wanted with all my heart to have it be me and not my African friends.
But Jesus gently reminds me not to worry–that HE has already taken up that weight on His back, that I don’t have to try to imagine this because He’s ALREADY handeling it..He’s WON the battle and He loves them more than I ever could. He SEES them, and by the hope and peace that I see in the eyes of these families, even in the midst of pain–they trust Him and see Him fighting and that heals the brokenness, it binds up the broken hearts. And that’s when people can rest in the Lord and where He has them!
**It’s still hard for my mind and heart to catch up to what my eyes see. It’s so hard to blog when I don’t know what my heart is going through. I go from one thing to the next and sometimes I forget or lose the time to process, grieve, think and remember what God has shown me and what He wanted me to learn. And what I did or am going to do about what I saw. How to take action…As I sit here on a comfy couch in Cape Town, South Africa in a “real” house (or what we see as real), I finally have a moment or allow myself a moment- outside of the two African countries I just visited- to Reflect and remember the beautiful faces of the amazing people I lived life with. To reflect on their stories of triumph, their fears, challenges, obstacles, praises, and thankfulness. And wow it feels good to remember those and praise God for those people! God has blessed me with a memory that can very easily recall people’s stories, faces, the time I spent with them, funny times we shared, and things they specifically asked me to pray for.
But if I don’t take the time to remember them…what good is that memory?
This might be a big reason why I feel burdens for people, because they live on in my mind for years to come. If I think about their name, a thousand other images come back to me. This may be how everyone’s brain works, but I guess I don’t really know! I know God has given me extra doses of compassion and love for a reason, and I’m starting to see what those reasons are.
Besides beautiful people and their stories, God has allowed me to see amazing sights in the past months. From a great hike in Malawi, the drive to Zambia, a crazy amazing lightning storm like nothing I’ve ever seen, stars, stars, and more stars, the amazing Victoria Falls, a sweet farm we lived at for a few days in Livingstone- near Vic. Falls, taking a leap of faith to go Bungie Jumping, and now Cape Town for this month…which is a whole other blog with the beautiful things we’ve seen here! I’ve always appreciated God’s creation and His design, but it’s come to a whole new light lately.”
These photos are from the end of Malawi through Zambia… these are only some of the experiences that God used to show me His beauty and to seek His face.
An amazing/difficult hike in Malawi with team Fearless…we conquered that mountain and got to have some INCREDIBLE worship with the Lord when we reached the top!
Nothing like prayer and worship in a setting like this…beginning to realize God was preparing me for a new season and seeing His beauty in everything around me!
Admiring the Beauty of it all!! Even the thunderstorm heading towards us…
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in
and pray in, where nature may heal and g
body and soul.”
A great ending to a very fun chapter with team Fearless!! Our teams were switched a few days later at our month 5 debrief. Love them so much! But we were on to a new chapter of the race, with team Force in ZAMbia! Everytime I talked to sweet Elizabeth and she smiled at me, I saw Jesus in her! She had the sweetest heart, communication was difficult because of language…but in spite of that we still became good friends, I think our smiles always encouraged each other 🙂
To the right: We had a ladies day at the baptist church we worked with in Zambia…they taught us how to cook traditional food outside on open fires and also had a fun time making us sample the interesting things they eat…yumm chicken trotters!
Despite many trials in their lives, these ladies loved us so much and I saw so much of the Lord in them, along with trust and strength. We had many fun times! They are also prayer warriors…I’ve never been prayed over so fervently when I was sick!! Whew! While we were there we had the opportunity to preach and teach…this is not common for women in this church, they said we opened new doors for them and avenues of ministry for the women! 
Sweet Zambian children!
Little Zacheus holding my hand in church on Christmas while he slept, what a sweet Christmas gift! Oh the beauty of little things!
Baby Zacheus and I at church on Christmas! 
Little Barbara…oh what a joy she was to meet! We met her on house visits one day. She greeted me with a smile and shook my hand. I needed a little joy that day and she made me smile. What a little doll! 
To the right: Our mom (or Mamayo) that we lived with, walked me home from church holding onto my arm so I wouldn’t fall in the mud. She was the funniest woman I’ve met so far on the Race! Always laughing and making us laugh. In pictures she wouldn’t smile unless we tickled her..this became quite the game! I will always smile when I think of her. Especially the time we modeled together in the rain…she threw her purse at Alicia and said “catch” and then she started to walk with this attitude, making faces, and posing. I was dying! So then we took a photo with some attitude
This is Bridgette and her baby Sarah…poor little
Sarah got burned very badly while we were there by hot water. Bridgette has a tough
life at home with her husband and family. We became good friends with
her and I will continue praying for her as I remember her smile and
singing!! She is an example of beauty and trust in the Lord through hardships! 
Pictures ABOVE: The sweet little girl is Abigail, and the other picture is a picture of three families that touched our hearts during some house visits. (Mary, Delphista, and Charles) They all have HIV and are very sick because of it. They can’t work because they are too weak, so they have to trust God to meet theirs and their families needs each day. We were instructed to give some words of encouragement and pray for them at each of these visits…all we could really do was hold their hands, cry with them and pray for them. We left those visits wanting to do something more for these families, struggling to survive. There are times to pray and times for action…and God told us it was a time for action. With the help of some family and friends, we were able to give them food, supplies, soap and some other basic needs. As well as pay for some education costs for one of the families. Of course these material things will run out, but they saw God move our hearts to provide for them and He showed them He loved them when they needed it and that’s what matters…this is another example of God’s beauty!
We had the awesome opportunity to go see the beauty of Victoria Falls in Zambia..one of the seven wonders of the world! And before we saw that, we thought it might be fun to Bungie Jump off the bridge there 🙂 It’s the third highest jump in the world! What a rush and a leap of faith to trust God and jump off that bridge. It was the craziest thing, and so much fun! Minus the whip lash! haha
beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower,
and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
God uses His beauty as a reminder for us to SEEK HIS FACE!
