I firmly believe the majority of us take for granted the little miracles that God does in our lives every day. We think instantaneous miracles are more valuable than ones God works out over years. We believe breakthroughs are more important than the daily manna God gives us in His Word each morning. We trudge through our monotonous schedules without stopping to see the little things God is doing all day, every day.
I believe that God has an outrageously miraculous, extravagant life for all of us, yet only a small fraction of people take Him up on it. If we would pay attention, I believe we would walk in the miraculous every day, rather than just occasionally.
So in this blog I want to share four short stories that have happened in the past couple weeks that demonstrate God’s faithfulness in the little things.
Miracle One: Taxi Troubles
After spending six weeks in a town of Chile, my team and I headed back to the sprawling city of Santiago to travel to Patagonia. Within 20 minutes of arriving in the city, Vinnie left her phone on the seat of the taxi we took to the hostel.
We did everything we could and called everyone we could think of, but didn’t hear back from anyone. Understandably in a bad mood, Vinnie decided one more time to head back to the bus station to see if we could find the same taxi driver again.
Not wanting her to be alone in a city as dangerous as Santiago, Tiara and I went along for the ride. Five minutes into this taxi ride, I realized I had left my local phone and my cell phone (all forms of communication) at the hostel. Perfect.
Then our tax driver told us not to inform any of the drivers at the bus station we were looking for a phone, because they might call the other driver and tell him not to come to the station so he could keep the iPhone. Our situation was not looking great.
We finally found the bus station and we sat down to wait on taxis entering it. I had nothing to do, and being the productive person that I am, I was bored out of my mind in about sixty seconds. I started talking to God, telling Him my concerns.
“As the team leader, I know the decision of how long we stay here is ultimately up to me. I don’t know how late we should be out when we have to get up early for our flight tomorrow and I don’t want to make Vinnie mad, but this is a wild goose chase. There are thousands of taxis in Santiago and the chances of that guy coming back and having her phone are one in a million.”
Now the sad thing is when Vinnie first left her phone, I said we needed to pray about it and I had prayed, asking God to bring Vinnie’s phone back. Yet an hour later, my realist side had totally taken over my faith.
The Holy Spirit whispered to me, “Tera, why do you ask for things and not believe they are going to happen?”
James 1 popped into my head: “He who asks must ask and not doubt, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. This person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”
Yeah, okay God. Ouch.
Within 30 seconds of this conversation with God, the same taxi driver pulled up to the station in a different car than he had been driving before. Not only was it the same guy, but he had taken Vinnie’s phone with him from the other car he was driving and happily handed it back to her.
Our God is a one in a million God. Vinnie should never have gotten her phone back, but because God cares about the little things, she did. No miracle is too big for our God, but no miracle is too small, either.
Miracle Two: He Knows Your Heart
Before debrief started in Patagonia, a few of my squadmates and I trekked 45 miles with our packs through the most beautiful terrain I have ever seen. On the final morning, we hiked up a mountain in the dark, trudging through snow, to witness the towers (the most famous part of the national park) at sunrise.
We arrived, expecting to see the beautiful towers emerge out of the darkness with beautiful colors radiating through the breaks in the rock. Instead we were greeted with increasing snow and a fog dense enough to cut with a knife.
While we sat in the snow straining our eyes to see a glimpse of the towers’ shadows, Jessica told us that she had prayed for each of us on the trail and received words for us that she wanted to share.
Her words for me were: yellow rose, tower of strength, and rely on His strength. This may seem ordinary to you, but to me the meaning of these three words hit me from the instant they left Jessica’s mouth.
Yellow roses are my favorite flowers. It kind of bugs me because roses are so common and I like being different, but I love them all the same.
Tower of strength is the meaning of my name. My parents were going to name me Lindsey during my mom’s whole pregnancy, and the day I was born they decided I didn’t look like a Lindsey, so they named me Tera. I believe names are important and can speak life over people, and I have always cherished the meaning behind my name.
“Rely on His strength” was fitting because I knew I was going into a difficult season leading a new team, and I am always tempted to rely on my own strength before I rely on God’s.
Yellow roses are also a symbol of Texas, so I was talking to Eric and I said maybe God was implying that I will get the job I want and stay in Texas.
He responded simply, “Maybe. But even if not, I think that’s God just showing you how well He knows you.”
Truth. God knows me better than I know myself, and He knows you better than you know yourself, too.
Miracle Three: A Sense of Humor
On the final day of hiking the W Trek, we finished our last steps and took a shuttle back to the park offices. Our driver pulled up and greeted us in an excited Spanglish frenzy, moving his hands frantically back and forth to describe a puma he just spotted.
Excited ourselves, we threw our packs in the back of the van and he sped off, driving back and forth trying to spot the puma again. With a resigned “se fue” (it left), he started on the road back to the park entrance.
In the seat behind me, I heard Chrissy start rambling on and on about how God never answers her prayers about wildlife. All she wanted to see in the Amazon was an anaconda, and God never let her see one, and she was praying the whole time on this trip to see a puma and God couldn’t even answer her smallest wildlife request.
So I sat there in front of her and I started talking to God. I just said, “Hey, God, I know your sense of humor and I think it would be really fun to prove her wrong. Would you just give Chrissy a puma to put her in her place?”
Then we pulled up to the offices and ended up having to wait three hours in the rain for a bus to arrive.
About an hour into our wait, we were huddled in our sleeping bags listening to worship songs when we heard some commotion coming from a van around the side of the building.
Jessica came over yelling, “Puma! Puma!”
One of the tour guides had picked out a puma in the mountains above us, and there was a group of tourists huddled around trying to spot it through binoculars. Of course we all ran over to get some pictures, and Chrissy was the first to the scene.
I just sat there laughing with God at our inside joke, knowing that Chrissy had no idea what I had prayed. God has an incredible sense of humor, and even when you’re being an ungrateful brat, He still loves you enough to give you the world.
Miracle Four: Just Fall
A lot of my Race has been a restoration of God’s voice in my life. Because of some wounds, for a long time I walked away from hearing God in the ways that He so specifically designed for me to communicate with Him, and I really doubted whether or not I truly heard God’s voice for a long time.
Countless times this year, God has confirmed over and over to me that I do hear His voice and that I should be stepping out in faith and speaking His truth and encouragement to people like I used to.
Well, a couple days ago my new team and I spent time praying and asking God what He had for this team. I really felt like God was saying, “Stop balancing and let yourself fall.” I felt this was directly tied to vulnerability and trust (a huge struggle of mine) and that it was a word for the team.
When I shared it with the group, a sneaky smile spread across Nick’s face. Then he shared words he got for each of us, and literally down to each word, God told him to tell me: “stop balancing and let yourself fall.”
Like, seriously God? I’m still praying through the implications of that, but at the very least I cannot say that I don’t hear God’s voice. And for anyone who doesn’t believe God really speaks to people on an individual basis, I hope that small story encourages you that God can speak to you and He wants to speak to you.
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God cares about the little things.
Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!”
I think most of the time people use God “doing immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine” to describe the grandiose things God does in our lives, and that’s perfectly acceptable. But I think this verse describes the small ways God wants to communicate with us on a daily basis, too.
God wants to demolish the strongholds in your life, but He also wants to give you the strength to get up in the morning when you don’t feel like it. God wants to free you from addiction, but He also wants you to talk to Him about what your favorite color is each day (that one’s for you, Corrie). God wants to heal your mind and your body but He also wants to reveal mysteries to you step by step, sharing little secrets of His plan for your life along the way. God wants to see you walk in freedom, but He also wants to show you His sense of humor.
God is a relational God. He is your King, your Redeemer, and He will be your Judge. But He is also your Daddy, your Friend, and your constant companion. He is more interested in your life than your friends, parents, spouse, or children ever will be, and He wants you to trust Him with every part of it.
I pray these little miracles spoke to you today. I believe God has little drops of His goodness planted throughout each of our days, but it is up to us whether or not we pay enough attention to drink of His goodness.
UPDATES AND PRAYER REQUESTS
- We have less than two months left on the Race! Our flights home are officially booked, and I will be getting back to Austin late on June 24. So soon!
- We just finished up debrief in Patagonia (video to come in the next blog)! Before all the meetings began, we had a few days to explore. Eight of us hiked the W Trek through Torres del Paine National Park, and it was one of the most incredible things I have experienced. I have traveled quite a bit for my age, and Patagonia is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I am so grateful to be able to live this life! Please pray we never take any moment of this journey for granted.
- I have a new team!! I am continuing on with team leading, and now I will be leading the co-ed team for the rest of the Race. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about being asked to lead the co-ed team because I wasn’t sure it was biblical for women to lead men. I know many people have had the same feelings or thoughts when I told them about this, so if you are in that boat as well, let me tell you how I solved this in my mind.
There is a difference between leading spiritually and leading a team. I am not going to be leading the guys spiritually or pastoring them; my job is to create a healthy environment for my team to grow. I am okay with leading this team now, and I am excited to fight for new people and finish the Race strong! Please pray my team bonds and that we allow these new people to sharpen us in ways others haven’t before.
This is my team and me yesterday at a grill out, where I got to eat steak and spend time with my awesome new Argentinian family. Also, speaking of little miracles, isn’t it just like God that the first time I got to eat steak all year (my favorite food) was on my birthday? Just saying. Classic Jesus.
- That being said, it has been a difficult process for me changing teams. Team Free Fall was simply incredible. We made each other better, loved each other, and challenged each other every day. I felt like I had five genuine friends I could count on to fight for me at any moment. I know this new team will fight for me, as well, but I just don’t know people very well and it is like starting over from step one with five new people.
Please continue to pray for all of our teams on the expedition squad, that we would bring what we have learned from other teams to our new ones and that we would finish the World Race as strongly as we started it.
- My team and I are in Mendoza, Argentina, until May 28. We are working with a first-time ministry host helping with the young adults, the small groups, the homeless ministry, and many other facets. The church is huge, and they are connected with Rick Warren and Saddleback church in the States. I love their services and I am so pumped to get to do ministry with them for a month! Please pray we are a blessing to Iglesia de la Alameda and we are able to love them well while we are here.
- After May 28, the rest of the Race will be Expedition again, making contacts for AIM and going wherever God tells us to (around Argentina and Uruguay).
- We will have a final debrief in Rio de Janeiro and start flying home June 23 (we fly to Peru and then Colombia and then Florida).
That’s all for now! Thank you for reading my blogs and caring about my life!
I love you all!
Tera
