Well, just when you think you are done with a country God proves to you otherwise. While in Rwanda, on the night of our departure to Ethiopia, I remember praying to God that I’m tired of always asking to be used by him and not actually allowing myself to be used. He always presents opportunities but I don’t always take them. After praying this, God was ready to see how deep my desire for this prayer really was.
On the world race, or any traveling experience, the travel days are long, tiring, and can lead to late nights. Well, on this travel day I was exhausted from processing leaving the country, having to stay up late catching up with squad mates, and carrying my pack around. When I finally got to the airport I was ready to lounge when I heard a voice say “Hello.” I looked up and smiled and looked back down. In that moment I heard a voice in my head say “Are you going to have this conversation?” My body was telling me no but my spirit was saying yes. I turned to the man and began to continue on in a long conversation with him. As we talked, the man said something that struck me and would soon become what God would be teaching me in Ethiopia. He said “WITH GOD THERE ARE NO BORDERS.” This made my heart jump. I liked that. But did I believe that?
Flashing forward to my travel day leaving Ethiopia: I was able to reflect on the month and what God was teaching me. Overall it was WITH GOD THERE ARE NO BORDERS, which proved evident throughout my time in Ethiopia. God used that phrase to teach me that he is capable of so much more then I could imagine. For example: our squads’ final fundraising update was due at the beginning of March. As a squad we decided to fast for 24 hours with the focus being on lifting up funds. We had no wifi in Ethiopia so it wasn’t up to us to post a status but it was fully up to Father to bring in the money. We fasted as a unit and then broke the fast as eating as a unit. The night we finished our fast we received a phone call that an anonymous donation was being made to our whole squad as a unit, which would bump people up thousands of dollars!! WHAT THE HECK!!!
With GOD THERE ARE NO BORDERS.
Then God used this phrase to reinforce the spirit that is living inside me. What I mean is he was showing me that with him living in me he is capable of using me for greater things then what I could even imagine. This was shown to me by a 10k run put on by my squad. I agreed to do the 10k run but I had never run more then 2 1/2 miles before and here I was signed up for 6 miles. I wanted to back out but I felt called otherwise. The day before the race I was reading in 1 Samuel how David ran toward the battlefield against Goliath because he knew God was capable. His faith was in God. As I ran the 10k I reflected on this and God spoke to me by saying “Do not limit what I think I can do but trust him who lives in me.” Well folks….BOOM! I ran 6 miles easily. My mind was blown. The whole time we were talking together and he was cheering me on like he does in the race of life. There is no limit to what he can do through us or how he can use us.
WITH GOD THERE ARE NO BORDERS.
There is this imaginary box with four borders that we like to put God in. We think that we have a grip or an understanding of who he is but then he switches it up. Many times I have an idea of who he is, which is great, but he is so much greater then my mind will ever be able to grasp. I can’t set a formula or a way to which I think God will show up. This was shown through my desire to pray for healing for a boy in the town we were living in and my host told me not to. The reason was because of government issues and regulations on what the organization was capable of doing in town. At first I didn’t understand and was slightly upset because I felt the spirit inside me saying, “God wants to heal this boy.” I was torn. Do I honor God or my host? I decided to go with honoring my host which led to me feeling like I disappointed God. I still prayed for the boy on my own but it didn’t feel the same. Through the process of this battle, God revealed to me that I did honor him. He wanted me to respect my host AND to pray for the boy. I was anticipating healing to come from my view of laying hands on the boy yet in the bible Jesus healed so many different ways. Who is to say the boy didn’t receive healing that day from my prayer even without a hand on him? God was teaching me to not place a border or limit on how I think he will do this. He has a plan and he knows what’s best. I’m being challenged to not set in my mind how I think it’ll happen but just trust God will show up in whatever way he chooses to do so.
WITH GOD THERE ARE NO BORDERS.
