On December 2, my squad left Skopje, Macedonia, where we had spent several days resting, processing, praying, and adjusting to new teams and our upcoming journey to a new continent. After a difficult last month in Kosovo, I spent the majority of this time alone with the Lord in a cute coffee shop adorned with a beautiful Christmas tree and Christmas music. God was so good in refueling me and giving me some much needed rest, telling me that he wanted to bring restoration in the coming months. God truly blessed me by giving me an AMAZING new team of women to serve alongside, and humbled me by placing me in a position of leadership again even when I felt so aware of my weaknesses that had emerged in the past month. Meet Team Covenant—a team of bold women who carry an amazingly welcoming spirit and a strength and confidence that comes from the Lord!
Left to Right: Allie, Maria, Jenna, Me, Nicole, Morgan, Ali
We began our travel to Africa at 4:30am on December 2, after a powerful evening of 4 hours of constant prayer as a squad over every person we encountered in Eastern Europe. I began the journey in a weird state of exhaustion mixed with nerves about this new season of the race. What would Africa be like? Would I be sleeping in my tent all month? Would I be asked to preach this week? How would this new team work together? Would I have to handle any problems with the ministry host? My mind was full of questions and uncertainties. Every time the team leaders had to do a headcount of the team to inform our logistics team that we were ready to move on to the next location, I felt slightly overwhelmed and scattered as I searched through the sea of people to find my new teammates that were spread out around the airport terminal.
We boarded our flight to Istanbul and I quickly fell into a coma-like sleep. Still dazed when we landed, I got off the plane and followed our squad into the Istanbul airport. Our logistics team asked for all of our passports so that we could proceed to our next gate, and I reached inside my purse.
Then panic took over. My hand searched every crevice of my purse, but my entire wallet was not there. My wallet with my credit cards, money, passport, health insurance, and vaccination cards. I searched the bag multiple times, but it was nowhere to be found.
I quietly went up to one of our logistics leaders and asked if I could take a friend and go back to the gate we came from to look for it. I grabbed my friend Morgan, and we took off power-walking through the airport. We got to our gate, but the door was locked. Morgan searched my purse and daypack just to make sure that I had not missed my wallet in my panic, but of course it was still nowhere to be found.
We went to a nearby gate to ask someone about our next steps, and they referred us to the next gate.
We went to that gate, and they referred us to the next gate.
This process of referrals went on for several gates, only increasing my panic as more and more time was ticking by. Finally, we found someone who was able to call the plane to ask them to look for the wallet. They called, and then informed us that it was the shift change and we would have to sit and wait until the next shift came. Morgan and I took a seat by the counter, and I nervously perched with my eyes glued on the man we had talked to. My mind was racing with a combination of the possibilities of never finding the wallet and the embarrassment of having this happen. I was beating myself up for being so scatterbrained and irresponsible at the start of this new journey, talking myself down about my ability to lead others when I was so clearly a mess myself.
Then in the midst of my mental drama, Morgan turned to me and said, “We should pray about this.”
We held hands and bowed our heads, giving this over to God. Morgan prayed for God to provide this wallet, because He clearly wanted me to go to Zambia for a purpose and this wallet was essential to getting there.
Mid-prayer, we heard a woman approach us. We looked up, and she was holding my wallet. My full wallet, without a single piece missing! God had answered our prayers before we had even finished asking Him, as soon as we had turned to Him!
One of the verses that has been a key lesson on my World Race journey has been James 5:16: “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” I mentioned this in my first blog in Serbia, but it needs to be something that I constantly remind myself. I often think of prayer as an afterthought, taking action myself and then turning to God when I have reached the point of complete helplessness and overwhelming stress. But prayer is powerful and effective. God listens. He answers prayers. He provides, when what we ask is in alignment with His will. Why don’t we pray first, and then act in the direction He leads us?
How could I start this new journey feeling overwhelmed and scattered, when I have a God who is peace? When I have a God who will be with me every step of the way? I think I left God on that plane with my passport—when I lost my physical identity, I left behind my identity as a woman of God who is grounded in the peace of God and a state of constant prayer. I allowed myself to trust in the employees of Turkish Airlines before trusting in my God who created those employees. God’s provision reminded me of His constant presence and the need to seek Him before seeking any things of this world.
God humbled me through this experience. A year ago, I would not have wanted to share a story like this with the world, because it exposes my mistakes and weaknesses. But now God has shown me that I need to tell the stories like this, because they expose God’s faithfulness. This story has been told more times than I can count since our arrival in Zambia, and God has used it to encourage people to seek God in our moments of stress and fear. So my challenge to you all is to seek God immediately when you encounter bumps in the road, and to then be bold in sharing how God is faithful in times of need. God is moving in our lives more than we recognize, and we need to cultivate an awareness of His omnipresence and provision, to give glory back to Him.
Thanks for reading!
Wifi is limited here in Africa, so I will be posting another blog today as well—please be on the lookout for “The Beauty of Having Dirty Cankles,” where I will share more about our ministry in Zambia!
Merry Christmas to you all!
