I knew I didn’t hold the popular opinion. And until this moment, I was impartial. God had warned me not to be afraid of His silence and He would direct me to move when He said to move. Until then, I had to trust that I knew His voice and was relying on Him to be my guide.
And then, God told me to move. God told me to speak.
“We didn’t come here to do easy things.” I said. “We came here to do mighty things for God. I refuse to settle for anything other than all He has in store. My vote is we go to Berat.”
There were plenty of reasons not to go to Berat. Logistically, it didn’t make sense. We all wanted to go back Tirana. Tirana would be easy. We had beds in Tirana. We had easy transportation to Tirana. And we knew we still had work to do in there.
None of that was true for Berat.
It would be so easy to leave the city of Berat for another team to go to at a later time and call it good.
But we didn’t come here to “call it good.”
“We are here now. Our time is now.” my heart cried out.
“Then we go in blind faith”, spoke up my Khari.
Something inside us all began to stir. God began to reignite our warrior spirits. We chose at that moment to die to our flesh and listen to what we knew God had for us.
We had no idea what to expect; only that God was speaking and we were listening.
6 am bus ride, crammed on top of our bags. We prepared our spirits, clinging to the fact that whatever our day looked like, God was there and we were searching for more of Him.
Hours later we pulled into the bus station. No place to stay. No direction to go.
But here’s the thing about God. He promises us that He will go before us :: He will go behind us :: He will always make a way. True to His word, He already had everything worked out.
No sooner than we had grabbed our bags off the bus, the pastor of the local church (who we had never met) pulled up and gave us to the keys to a free place to stay. Easy as that. Is this real???
As we climbed the five stories of stairs to our new home, we swung open the door to see a huge penthouse. Really God?!!? In literally a matter of minutes, we went from being homeless to having a mansion. And isn’t that exactly the character of God? He takes us from being orphans and adopts us into His royal family.
He changes everything in a moment.
So as I sit here, full of wonder, in my air conditioned penthouse suite, thinking this little story is about to end, God whispers in my heart that this is only the beginning. A penthouse in Albania is nothing compared to the things He has prepared to give. Oh the things He has in store.
God, I am so overwhelmed by your love. Thank you for calling us higher :: calling us deeper :: beckoning us to take more risks and to step out in faith because you are always there.
So, here I am God. Once again, laying it all down, chasing fully after you. Your love is better than any mansion.
