If you have an hour of extra time to spare, listen to this testimony by Jennifer Toledo first. We heard it on our last day in Kenya before debrief; it inspired me to keep going on this race.
http://www.joannamay.org/audio/jennifer-miller-toledo/my-testimony
The harder life gets, and the more you have to rely on Jesus, the more evidence of His presence you’ll see in your life.
I’ve been torn and procrastinating on writing this blog. To say it was by far the hardest month of my race so far would be an understatement. Like Jennifer said, God was saying, “Make a decision.” God was saying, “You can’t serve Me and yourself.” I always thought why not both, but God wants all of you. God wants you to give everything up. God forced me to lay down my FREEDOMS , lay down ADVENTURE , lay down my CONFIDENCE, lay down EVERYTHING for HIM. It’s funny how God keeps us humble and feeling inadequate, and thankfully so.
So on top of being forced to give up virtually everything I LOVE, my malaria medication that I had started taking at the end of Moldova was making me 100% CRAZY, and I didn’t even realize it until halfway through the month, because of all the other adversity I was dealing with.
Seth Barnes quotes in his new book, Kingdom Journeys, that one must recognize, “the first three steps down the path to changing the world: 1.) Abandon your comfort zone. 2.) Embrace your brokenness. 3.) Depend on God.” Being forced into following the rules of bounded set Christians and deflecting opportunists’ attempts at trying to pry capital resources from the “muzungos” was definitely out of my comfort zone. The switch to a new all-business, all girls’ team, a minute by minute planned out schedule, and the crazy meds pumping through my body fully brought me to a place of brokenness. I felt like I had no support, no one to turn to, and my only option was to ask God to bring me through it. And as the saying goes, if God brings you to it, God will bring you through it.
Ever heard of a divine appointment? Well let me tell you about this guy we met our last week in Kitale. His name is Rickey Strickland. He told us of some amazing stories about when he was saved, stories of ministering in his work place back in the states, and about the last 6 years working with the Pokot tribe, on and off, spreading the gospel in places no white man had ever been before. I was really touched by his dedication to the Lord and literally felt the Holy Spirit flowing in my body and throughout the restaurant that day. In fact that afternoon, the Lord had told Rickey to go to the restaurant for passion juice, and even though he wasn’t thirsty Rickey obeyed Him. I’m so thankful he did! Here is Rickey’s website if you want to check it out, and ask me about some of his cool stories the next time we talk. www.pokotnow.com
Oh yeah, so……….ministry for this month. Well the first week we taught English and Bible classes at an underprivileged school. The second week we visited and prayed at hospitals, orphanages, and a women’s prison. I was the guest speaker at the prison, and about two dozen inmates dedicated their lives to Jesus that evening (to God be the glory!) The last week we spent going door to door, praying for and encouraging the various members of the church.
My favorite part of the month was at the end when our team headed down to Kisumu for a couple days of R & R and fun! We visited Impala Park, where we got to go in the monkey cage, pet the leopards and cheetahs, and feed and hold two newborn serval wildcats, as well as witness to the animal caretakers during a huge downpour. Also that day, we cruised around Lake Victoria and play hide-and-go seek with the hippopotamuses! Finding the silver lining in the cloud this month definitely proved challenging until the last few days; but as Rickey said, God gives you a coloring book, and it's up to you to choose which colors you want to fill it in with!
