I’m fully certain that the Lord has a great sense of humor! And he probably laughs at His own jokes just like we do.
So this past month that we spent in Nepal, my team and one other team were up on a Yak Ranch in the Himalayan mountains. Like what is life…? We were so excited and we allowed our imagination to go crazy when we found this out, all the way back in India. We were constantly making Yak jokes, like “be right yak! Or quit your yakking!” And we would laugh and joke about how cool being on a yak ranch was going to be, we created this false expectations of what we thought our month should look like.
I should of know this month wasn’t going to look how I thought. When we woke up and packed our bags at 6am and walked to the bus stop with all our stuff to get on a bus that could last anywhere from 6 hours to 8 hours. We got all loaded up to travel to a city called Pokhara. We took these windy mountains roads the entire way there. Little did I know that this is where our metaphors for the month would start. It would go from windy mountains roads, to rocky roller coaster bus rides, to pulling weeds, to rebuilding a foundation, to the views of beating we saw. The metaphor were never ending this past month! It was crazy to see how much the things in my physical life were lining up with my spirit life as well.
As we loaded the first bus, we were navigating our way through the mountains, constantly turning, going up hill, going down hill, and turning some more. Spiritually on the race we are traveling these windy roads trying to figure out this new way of life that we are experiencing, trying to figure out what we feel and getting into those depths of ourselves with every turn. This process feels like we are always turning, trying to figure out the new direction with each changing country, language, and culture!
We load up our second bus… little did we know we would become very familiar with this raggedy run down bus. We were unsure if it will make it up the mountain with all of us, our 50lbs packs, and all the locals that seemed already crushed on here. We crushed all of us in a little bit tighter, some of us even sitting on the roof with our bags, totally unaware this would also be come a new norm for us. With every bump we felt as if we were going to either fall right off the edge or that our form of transportation was just completely going to fall apart. I looked around at the locals who were so unaware of these concerns, and realized how often can we be that way with the Lords plans! His original intent is to make us live on the edge and to keep us alert of every bump that life may bring us. Living a life fully aware that the next bump may be our last. But how often do we just become familiar and comfortable with the calling on our life that we forget the risk of following Jesus. The ride up the mountain or down never became comfortable or safe, whether I was inside the bus or on the roof. I was not going to be satisfied with what He had placed in my life even if it appears to unsafe (like this bus ride), I will not fall into contentment!
We arrive at the ranch instantly all expectations shattered, which is a reoccurring theme on the race. Our ministry this month was pulling weeds out and digging a new foundation for a restaurant our host was going to use to help reach the locals. With each physical weed I pulled out and every shovel full of dirt I moved, I felt God challenging me in repositioning my heart. He wanted me to start pulling and scooping all that didn’t belong in my heart, to create a space for what did. Both the physical and spiritual work was tiring and no longer fun after a few days of work! This entire month I was physically, emotionally and spiritually tired of all the work being done in my life.
In Nepal nothing is on time… there is a lot of waiting around. Spiritually God took the same approach! I started out the month asking for bold things, namely I wanted understand what complete dependency looked like. This whole month I actively waited on the Father to answer these bold prayers. Physically, every night we waited on dinner for an hour maybe more, believing it that tonight it would be served at 7 like they said it would be. Despite the waiting our food always came out! It may not have been on the time frame we wanted but we were always feed and never went hungry. God answered my prayers in the same way… He always showed up and I never went hungry!
The Himalayas are absolutely breathtaking! I constantly would wake up and stand in amazement to all the beauty around us! God showed me that He is constantly doing the same thing! He looks at us and sees how beauty our souls are and how he creates beauty from the inside out. He is wanting to share this incredible beauty with us so we can see it for ourselves. He whispers, “your are my most magical creation” as we stared at the sunset He created went rolling over the mountain. Me, not the mountains, are His most magical creation!
I fully believe that the Lord has an amazing sense of humor, but at the same time He just wants to show you that He is always speaking. Heaven is here on earth you just have to see the metaphor and the comparisons that He is speaking through. He is always willing to show you, but you have to open your eyes and look. So take a moment from your busy life and see how the Father is alining your physical life and your spiritual life together too!
Xoxo
TaylorB
To all my supporters, and friends I love you guys dearly! I am beyond grateful for all you help with getting me here, I’m truly living the dream. I wouldn’t be here with out you!
