The last month I have been in South Africa working alongside Christ Amazing Love Ministries. C.A.L.M. is a church, in which I helped one of the pastors with his speech. I didn’t realize how God would break me this month. Coming onto the Race I thought I knew what love was but it was a superficial sense of love. Don’t get me wrong, I know I have friends and family back home who love me, but up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t know how to receive love.
Since the Philippines, God has been teaching me a lot, but especially about love. What is my testimony about what He has done? Well, hold onto your seat, because it has blown me away!
Originally when I found out abuot Team LOL’s location in South Africa, I was hurt. I wanted to go surfing and every other team was doing surfing ministry. I wanted to pursue my own selfish desire, but also knew I couldn’t do that either. I know God blessed that later though, by me being place in Pastor Charles’ home and with his family. (Pastor Charles is the pastor I was working with in speech.) He is from Nigeria, so his English is not polished and struggles with replacing some sounds for other sounds. As Charles’ language was broken, I was being broken.
When Ashley gave Jess and I our home placement, she said that God told her it was my month of redemption. When she told me this, I was unfamiliar of what that meant but knew that God was speaking to me about receiving.
As I worked with Charles on his speech, God was starting to break my heart for this family. The way they welcomed a stranger into their home and trusted me was crazy. I have NEVER experienced this in my life. I said something about one thing or another and automatically it was given to me. The way they served me was ridiculous. At first, I didn’t know how to let this happen, but finally just received.
I knew within the first week that it would be hard to let go. God broke me of my hardness to love this month. He broke my stubbornness of living in the past and not remaining in the present. Long story short, I’m moving back to South Africa after The World Race. Charles and his family have been looking for internships for me for my speech. Along with Charles, there’s his wife Yaa (from Ghana) and their children, Jeremiah, 6 and Joy, 2.
