Faithful Provider. When I think of what the Lord has been revealing to me this month in Malaysia, it’s just this: that He is a faithful provider. But not just because He says He is or because He has to be – it’s far more beautiful than that, more romantic than that. It’s because of who I am as His daughter and the love I undeservingly receive in this divine relationship. His love for me runs so deep, so intimately, that His desire to see me happy is beyond my comprehension. He delights in providing for me, in knowing that the blessings to come will give me abundant joy. This is His character. This is who He is. He doesn’t know how to be any different but to love and be Love.
What prompted this beautiful revelation is the lifestyle my team has had to adopt for these past three weeks – a lifestyle of pure dependency on the Lord for all of our needs. For those of you who don’t know, this month has been my team’s “ATL” or “Ask the Lord” month. This entails a month of praying and listening to the Lord, following where the Holy Spirit leads us. The ultimate reason for this is to find Unsung Heroes in the country, people who are doing incredible things for the kingdom and using their lives to show the love of Jesus to their community. These might be pastors, ministry leaders or people who are in the shadows, unnoticed by others but noticed and clearly seen by the Lord. This month has solely been to find these amazing people, hear their stories, bring encouragement and support, and see if they would like to partner with AIM so future racers can aid in the advancement of their ministries. When asked at Training Camp to be the Unsung Heroes Coordinator for my squad, I was humbled to know that the Lord had chosen me to play such a vital role in this partnership process and the opportunity to hear each individual’s God-written story. I was looking forward to this month on the race, excited to see how the Holy Spirit would speak to us, lead us, and provide for us. But I had no idea how excited the Lord was when I accepted the position, how He could hardly wait for this month because He already knew the ways in which He was going to provide. How He was going to bring joy to this team and how His name was going to be glorified.
I wish I could sit down with all of you individually and tell you the countless stories and encounters the Lord has given us in just these past three weeks. Some have left me in tears of happiness, some have left me speechless at the perfect timing of the Lord and others left me just simply writing “thank you Father” over and over in my journal. I wish I could tell you every detail, every connection but to spare your time and mine, I will just provide some highlights.
Lodging:
- Our last night in the Philippines, we still had no place to stay for our entire month in Malaysia. 10:00pm – opened a facebook message from a friend of a friend (shout out to Kelsey!) who had been living in Subang Jaya, Malaysia for two years and just happened to have a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment below her that was available to October 14th. Not only did we get this “palace” at a donation-based price, we also made a new friend! The same night, I also received an email from YWAM in Penang, informing me that they had a group scheduled for the month of October but because they had canceled earlier that day (September 31st!), they now had a full apartment with 7 beds for us! This was a time when tears of happiness made their beautiful appearance.
- We spent one week in Penang before we felt the Lord leading us to leave the comfortability of our YWAM apartment and spend our last week and half in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital. We got our bus tickets Sunday, booked a hostel late Sunday night and arrived in KL Monday night. But let’s just say the hostel was not quite what we were expecting and knew that after this night, we had to find some other place to stay. The next morning, four of us visited Life Harvest Assembly, a school for Myanmar refugee children. After speaking in their morning worship session and getting a tour of the school, we were asked where we were staying. I’m sure our disgusted faces told it all as we explained our current hostel situation. Before I knew it, we were moving into their big prayer room with a full kitchen, bathrooms, showers, and a constant sweet community or teachers, pastors, and children. Oh and did I mention it was FREE?! How the Lord is so good!
Unsung Heroes:
- In our three weeks, we have met 11 Unsung Heroes and have 7 new potential contacts for AIM. All people the Lord lead us to and opened the doors for us to meet. From a HIV Crisis Home to a Girls Home to orphanages to International churches, the Holy Spirit made what seemed like random connections, divine encounters. All written, planned and orchestrated by Him.
Favorite Divine Encounter:
- After finding out our “random” Malay taxi driver was a Christian, we were able to share with him about our World Race trip and our purpose this month of finding Unsung Heroes and new contacts for AIM. Hearing this, he told us of his uncle who had an orphanage of 50+ kids just a train ride away. Without knowing much about this man, we took a day trip to visit him and his orphanage where the Lord did immeasurably more than anything we could have asked. After a day of royal treatment with delicious food, a tour of the orphanage, meeting the kids and hearing Pastor Peter’s motive behind starting this home, my heart has never felt so much joy. After countless prayers for the Lord to send help, Pastor Peter had full confidence that the Lord would faithfully provide for him and his wife who both lived in the home. Come to find, we were not only the first Americans to visit the orphanage but they also have a guest room, complete with big beds, a kitchen, TV and private bathroom. Even at the time the home was bought, the Lord was preparing for the future Race teams that were to come. The Lord is so faithful, even in the details! Favorite day of the Race so far:)
Faithful Provider. Jesus, my heart burst in awe, amazement and sheer joy for how You have over abundantly provided this month. How You have set up divine appointments with the contacts that You had already prepared for us in advance to meet. How You established free places for us to stay and prepared each heart that we encountered. Father, You are so good to Your children. Thank You for Your constant faithfulness, Your delight in providing for me and Your desire to bring blessings to Your beloved daughter. Thank You that You give out of Your loving heart, loving character, and loving nature. Thank You that You are Love.
LOVE YALL AND MISS EVERYONE!
Also, I am only $2,602 away from being FULLY FUNDED! So incredible! So if you haven’t given and feel the Lord is leading you to financially partner with me, you can by clicking on the “please support me!” link on the left side of the page. I fully trust that this is going to be another way the Lord is going to enforce His title as a faithful provider. Thank you to everyone who has donated and all the prayers I continue to feel everyday! So blessed to be on this journey with all of you!
