Something that the Lord has shown me over and over again on the World Race is his provision. He has continually demonstrated it to me, even in my times of doubt. He miraculously provided the funds I needed to go on this trip in a way that continually left me in awe, and I have gotten to experience first-hand how he provides for the people all over the world. I have seen people who (by an American standard) don’t have much, but the Lord provides for them every day. They give him the space to move, and he does it.
“And he said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens; they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!’”
-Luke 12:22-24
Most months, our squad has had set ministries and hosts. We are given some sort of housing, and we partner with their mission for the month, serving in whatever way they need. We align with their vision and serve alongside them. Our team treasurers works with a set budget and pays the host accordingly. We typically have a set budget for food, lodging, and transportation.
For various reasons, racers may have the opportunity to do an “Ask The Lord” (ATL) month. There is no set ministry host, which means finding food, lodging, and transportation are entirely on our own. We are given a set budget and are able to work within the parameters. It allows for a lot of freedom within ministry. We are to simply ask God what he wants for us and our team.
In Thailand, my team and I were supposed to be in Chaing Rai for ministry. We were going to be working on a farm and helping our hosts with their vision to create sustainable farming for their community, along with working with victims of sex trafficking and trauma. That plan was changed when the air quality in northern Thailand took a turn for the worst. When we were in Chaing Mai for the first week for Parent Vision Trip, the air quality was so bad that we were all wearing masks when we went outside to avoid adverse effects. On a typical scale of 0-500, there were some days where it was even over 500. Most days it stayed around 200-300, and anything above 150 being considered ‘unhealthy.’ We spent limited time outside to avoid breathing too much of it in.
(The reason for the poor air quality was because of Thailand’s annual “burning season” that happens because the farmers in the north burn their fields to prepare their land for the next year. It is technically illegal, but because of poor regulation, it becomes a problem for the northern part of the country. It creates a smog that can be so bad that you sometimes can’t even see the sky or surrounding mountains).
Because Chaing Rai is in the northern part of the country, it was affected by the smog as well. Our host notified us that we would not have any way of getting out of the air, as the place we were going to be staying wouldn’t have air conditioning to filter it and most of our ministry would take place outside. So, we were not able to go and serve with them. Two other teams on our squad had to relocate as well because they were located in the surrounding area of Chaing Mai.
Due to last minute changes, our leadership decided to make the remainder of the month an ATL month. We got to choose where we wanted to go within the country of Thailand, find a place to stay, and find ministry. My team decided to go to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. We found a place to stay that was in budget, and found transportation there.
Our time in Bangkok was incredible, yet incredibly difficult. I’m writing this blog to share just a few of the amazing things God did in month 9 of the race.
When we arrived at our hostel, we came to the realization that it was in fact, not in budget. We were exhausted, so we decided to stay one night and reorganize our thoughts and try to find another place to live. By the evening, we had narrowed our possibilities to four different places and sat down together to choose one.
Three of these places had air conditioning and Wi-Fi (both rarities on the race) as well as beds, while the fourth option had none of these things and had mats on the floor. I’ll let you guess which one we did not want to stay at. : )
We sat down to pray about it before making a decision. We did not want our own preference to get in the way of what the Lord wanted from this month. As I was praying, I received the word mat, and so did two of my other teammates. Another one of my teammates was reminded of the last time she did not obey the Lord. Yikes. So, needless to say, we reluctantly booked the one with the mats, and then went to bed. The owner had until 8:30 pm the next evening to confirm our booking.
The next morning, we had to check out of our hostel and we still did not have a confirmation. We weren’t worried yet; the owner still had a while to confirm. A few of my teammates went to a local church while I stayed back with my teammate Taylor to watch our bags in the lobby. It didn’t take long for us to feel like we were overstaying our welcome. How long could we hang out here with all of this obnoxious luggage before the employees make us leave? As it began to be later in the afternoon, we began to get nervous.
What if the owner doesn’t confirm our booking?
Should we book another place ‘just in case?’
If we book another place, is that being disobedient because we had so much confirmation?
Did we really hear from Holy Spirit?
What is the balance between faith and wisdom?
How long can we stay in this lobby before they kick us out?
Are we going to have to sleep in our tents at a park? (don’t worry mom & dad, this idea was quickly shut down because of safety reasons) : )
To give you some context, in the forefront of my mind was my squad mentor’s perspective about why ATL and trusting the Lord in general can be hard. She shared with me that generally speaking, when things get difficult or uncomfortable, we tend to throw money in that direction to make the pain go away and to stay in our comfortable bubble. She encouraged us to instead press into things that are hard and give the Lord space to move and provide, just as he did for his disciples.
When it started to get later into the afternoon, I have to admit I was panicking a little bit. My teammate and I were sitting in the lobby of a hostel that we had checked out of hours ago, and we had nowhere to stay that night (thankfully, the hostel staff was super gracious and never kicked us out). I called our teammates that were at the church to see if they could ask someone if we would be able to stay in the church. They called back later to say that we couldn’t stay at the church because they rent the building, but that a couple at the church offered to have us hang out at their house until our accommodations confirmed and potentially spend the night if needed.
So, Taylor and I loaded up all of our luggage and headed to the address that was given to us. The family, Matt & Amy + their two children, was American, and has been in Thailand for a few years. We had a great time sharing stories, testimonies of what the Lord has done, and playing with their two kiddos. I was overwhelmed with their kindness to host four women that they had never met before. I knew the Holy Spirit was involved with every step of this. I felt so comfortable and was so thankful they were willing to trust us and be Jesus to us. It reminded me of Matthew 25:40-45:
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’”
I am so thankful this sweet family welcomed these strangers into their home : ) Jesus, thank you for the family of God, discernment that comes through the Holy Spirit, + obedience!
Later that evening, we were walking to get ice cream and my teammate Lakota shared something with all of us. She had told another one of our squad-mates about what we had been up to, and she made a connection: all this time we were looking for a place to stay with mats, and the Lord let us to Matt!
Dang. Let’s just say that we were blown away. We trusted in the Lord and he provided! Not in the way we expected, but it doesn’t change that he did. We celebrated in the street!
8:30 passed and the owner of the Airbnb did not confirm, so we decided to look for a new place. One popped up that we did not see the other night—it seemed to come out of thin air. It had air conditioning, beds, Wifi, a YARD, and it looked the nicest out of all of the places we looked at.
To me, it was more than just the nice amenities. It was a reminder of the fruitfulness of our obedience. We trusted him, even when we weren’t sure where we were going to sleep. We trusted that he would provide. I’m not saying that when you obey the Lord you get a lot of nice material things, but I can promise that you will be blessed in more ways than one. Not only did we have this nice place to stay, but we had new friends in Matt & Amy + their family, we were able to attend their church and meet more believers, and we even attended a Passover dinner with many international members and get to share and talk with them. We were even able to babysit for Matt + Amy one night to bless them—even though I felt like we were giving back a fraction of what they did for us.
Some friends at the Passover dinner
We decided as a team that we would start each one of our ministry days with a devotional followed by a time of prayer where we all asked the Lord what he wanted us to do that day. What I loved about this month is that the direction of each and every day was given directly to Him.
If this sounds intimidating to you—you are not alone.
A point of frustration/confusion for most people is this: Is this my thought or the Lord’s?
A simple way to check this: is it something that is going to be helpful for the kingdom? Is it scriptural? Is it something Jesus would do? Is it going to show love? Then, it probably wouldn’t hurt. : ) Small acts of obedience now lead to bigger steps later. There is also this false idea that if the Lord places something in our heart, it must be something that we don’t want to do, and we should be uncomfortable with the thought of it. The reality is yes, sometimes the Lord calls us out of our comfort zone. The good news is that he doesn’t call us to do it alone—he is with us. But, he also places things on our hearts to do that we are actually excited to do. Crazy, right? God is a good, good father. He gives us the desires of our hearts for the purpose of glorifying him. Yes, it’s good to have discernment in what may be a selfish thought, but the Lord also gives us passions for a reason. He places them in our hearts to glorify him.
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
-Psalm 37:4
One day, my teammate Crystal got the word Mexican. She didn’t know if that meant we would be meeting a person from Mexico, going to a Mexican restaurant, or something else. But, we decided to take some encouraging notes we had written for people in Thai and hand them out to people along the street with some chocolate, trusting that the Lord would put this person or place in our path. We stopped for lunch and Crystal read the back of the package that said that the chocolate was made in Mexico. So, the Lord wasn’t talking about any of our assumptions. He meant that we were supposed to be handing out this candy and encouragement to those who needed it!
We were out the next day passing out more notes and chocolate. I had a vision of us walking into a beauty salon and talking with some of the women inside after giving them some notes. We walked until we found one. We walked inside, but none of the women spoke English and did not want our notes or chocolate. Bummer. We walked a little further. Another one. We walked inside and there was only three women inside, and they also did not speak English. They took notes and candy, but we were not able to converse with them.
I was feeling pretty discouraged. As I was handing chocolate and a note to someone, this woman came up behind me and spoke in ENGLISH! She read our notes, some of which read, “Jesus loves you,” and said, “I am a Christian! Come to my salon!” We hurriedly followed her to a salon, which happened to be a car showroom, typically called salons supposedly. My two teammates and I talked with her for a few hours about Christianity and Buddhism. She claimed that she was a Christian and a Buddhist, but we shared the distinct differences between the two, and how that being both would be impossible. It was a super life-giving conversation where we got to hear about her family, her life, and her faith. I hope that it led her to continue to ask herself questions about what she believes and will come closer to the truth.
This blog may seem all over the place, but I promise it has a purpose! These stories each have something in common—the Lord provided in ways that were contrary to how we expected them to happen. I’m not saying this is always the case, but I am saying that we have to be expectant and observant when it comes to following the Lord. Sometimes answered prayers, blessings, and provision can pass right by us if we aren’t paying attention. The Lord provided in mighty ways this month, and I was super thankful to be apart of it.
My prayer is that as I return home (in about two weeks, I might add!) that I would continue to have my eyes open for how the Lord is moving. I know that the business of life tends to get to me and may distract me from being aware of stories like this. Also, that I would continually ‘Ask the Lord’ what he wants for me and those around me and be obedient to where he is leading me.
While the World Race is a mission trip, it is also a discipleship program. The idea behind it is that this experience wouldn’t be the “highlight” of our lives here on Earth, but that it would propel us to continue to live missionally wherever we end up. The structure of ATL is meant to give us a safe space to cultivate that mindset in this environment, but also to carry it home with us.
“Ministry is life, & life is ministry” : )
What about you?
Are you actively seeking God in your daily life?
Are you asking him what he wants you to do?
Are you giving him the space to work, or are you surrounding yourself with the comforts of this world to avoid relying on him? Reliance on the Lord doesn’t just have to be with material things—it can be spiritually, mentally + physically.
Are you being obedient?
Are you aware of ways that God is moving in your life currently? I guarantee if you look, you will find it. Ask him to reveal himself to you.
I don’t ask these questions to make you feel guilt or shame but solely to get you thinking. I am compelled to share my stories of how the Lord works to remind you that our God is ACTIVE + MOVING, ya’ll!
Love you all and see you SO soon!
-Rach
