I think I want to encourage you today. I don’t know who “you” is exactly, but I’m going to keeping talking anyways.
This past week I got feedback on walking in obedience to the Lord. My teammate encouraged me by saying I truly strive to obey the Lord and what he puts on my heart. Sometimes it is little things, like praying for someone or serving in a way that makes you a little uncomfortable. Other times it is in bigger things, like dropping your entire life five minutes before it starts and leaving the country for nearly a year. Regardless, I want to encourage you to keep acting on what God puts on your heart. The same God that calls you and sends you will not leave you out to dry.
My last month on the race has honestly been one of the best months. It was most definitely not a month of constant highs, but there have been some incredibly sweet moments. Last week a team from Indiana came to kids alive for a week to put on vbs, help around the village and break ground on a new house. I was not excited to watch a week long trip take place at an orphanage and I had huge reservations about these people and what “good” they could actually do in just five days. But they came with big smiles and even bigger hearts to serve and seek the Lord. Remember:: I was not happy that they were at kids alive during our last few days with the kids (selfish I know). Long story short, the Lord told me to have a worship night with the team from Indiana and I was pissed. I said to my teammates, “does the Lord ever tell you to do something and your response is absolutely not Jesus.” I fought this feeling for a day or two until it was literally an aching pit in my stomach.. so I asked their team leader if he would be interested in having a worship night with us all and of course he said yes. I lightly cringed knowing that I couldn’t get out of it at this point. The entire day I was anxious and doubting whether I had made the right decisions or not. I’m pretty sure I told my team 70 times that I wasn’t going to worship night and it was cancelled.
(Side note:: Recently I have been given more and more opportunities to lead worship and it has been a real struggle for me. I fear that if I am the one leading worship than it is my responsibility to make sure everyone has a good time and “feels something” I guess? I don’t know how to explain it because I’ve never felt this weird pressure before. But it is most definitely there)
I was nervous the playlist wasn’t perfect and that nobody would know any of the songs and it would be awkward and quiet and I’d want to leave. I was nervous about speaking before worship started. I was self conscious of putting a “non traditional” worship song on the playlist because what if they thought I was weird? The entire situation made me so so anxious I barely even ate dinner.
But I showed up. I prayed and I pressed play. We worshiped.
At the end of the night I had multiple people asking me for the playlist and telling me how much they enjoyed that time. My teammates said it was exactly what they needed. The team from Indiana later told my host that there was something different about us world race girls, and that they were different people after that night of worship with us. They even encouraged the team coming after them to also have a worship night with us, and that night was just as incredible.
I don’t say any of this to make you think that I did this really awesome thing and helped everyone hear the Lord clearly and feel the Spirit moving. No no. Literally all I did was make a playlist on my phone and say YES to the Lord. I said yes and he showed up, he moved and he proved himself a faithful God yet again. No spotify playlist can move mountains without the Spirit of the Lord wrapped up and present inside of it. Those nights of worship were ordained by the Lord and goodness did he show up.
So I want to encourage you, person reading this, to say yes to something today. Say yes to the uncomfortable and the slightly confusing. Listen to what God puts on your heart and boldly walk it out. Give someone on the street twenty dollars, give grace where you do not want to or encourage someone who needs it. Maybe you need to say yes in a bigger way. Book a flight to serve internationally, give someone your car or donate your hair to an organization. I honestly do not know what the Lord is calling you to do, but I think you do.
I remember singing a hymn when I was younger.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
All my love,
Lindel
