Kingdom of the sky

Hello! My squad is now over half-way through the race (actually crazy and scary) and are currently in debrief preparing for the next few months! We just finished a month in the BEAUTIFUL country of Lesotho enjoying the mountains, the rural life, and a lot of long walks to work each morning. This month my team (and one other team) worked with an organization called Africa 4 Jesus in Malea’lea valley. Our host family is from South Africa and has been living in Lesotho for almost 10 years. They’ve founded a church, a preschool, and have focused primarily on discipleship and training young adults in ministry so they can return to their own communities and minister to their specific needs. Our hosts were so so sweet, and it was fun having two little (host) brothers for the month:) 

This month our teams were once again quarantined for a week (our host got sick:/) so our ministry was different every week for the three weeks we were there. We worked on the base doing manual labor, we worked in the local high school teaching classes and spending time with the kids, and we worked in nearby villages just getting to know the community, inviting them into the ministry, and praying for their needs. On the race each day is so different, and once again it was a fun month of getting to see so many different kinds of ministry and serving in each place my feet were. 

One of the stories I want to share from this month is from the very last day of ministry. My team was working in one of the villages for the day, and truthfully this wasn’t my favorite form of ministry. Evangelism is hard for me at times. I sometimes struggle and feel awkward trying to figure out what to say especially when not everyone is super interested. It can also be very emotionally draining for me to step into people’s lives, see their hardships, and know all I can offer is prayer and relationship with a ministry that is permanently available to them. Those are truthfully very impactful things, but sometimes my pride, tiredness, and desire to do more makes it feel like it isn’t. Yahweh and I are working on it:). By the end of this month I was feeling pretty tried and worn down in ministry. I hit a place where I just wasn’t sure how to move forward with it joyfully – I am always ready to step into what God puts in front of me, but sometimes I just have to make the choice to lean in when I want to pull away. Going into our last few days in Lesotho I was at this point, and God just kept asking me to lay it down before Him. I just kept bringing Him my tiredness and handing it over and trusting that as I walked to the village He would fill me. I’m not saying I suddenly was over-joyed and filled and forgetting all my feelings – but I was sustained and trusted I would be met by God’s goodness.

On our last day we talked with a few people and it was sweet, but its the very last conversation that I want to share. We were walking through the village and an elderly woman was outside her home with two grandchildren. She called us over to her, and then sat down and began crying. She told us how her son had been shot and killed a week before. Right now in the beautiful valley we lived in there is a lot of chaos beginning with gangs of young men fighting one another. There have been a fair amount of shootings that lead to a cycle of vengeance. Somehow this woman’s son got caught in it, and she was left alone with his kids. As she cried I felt a pull to go sit at her feet, and then my team and I prayed peace and comfort over her. We prayed for providence, we prayed for assurance that peace was coming. Shortly after she calmed and began talking with us and our translator. I could feel the shift of peace and joy come over her as she started telling us about her life. I continued sitting at her feet and she would talk down to and laugh at me often. It was so sweet. Eventually she told us of how she has had severe leg pain for a long time and asked that we pray over her. And so we did. I prayed for healing and for the Holy Spirit to come over her. We prayed for the simple touch of Jesus’ robe to make her whole just as in scripture. She told us she was feeling better and asked her grand-daughter to bring her cane. She stood up and began walking – and then she threw down her cane and started to run. She ran with her grandkids, she had me run with her, she danced, she sang. In just an hour and a half we witnessed God turn her mourning to dancing, we saw Him cover her with a garment of praise. It was absolutely incredible – and honestly for a few moments I found myself doubting. I’m still very much learning about Holy Spirit and the gifts we are offered through Christ. I started wondering if she was ever hurt, if it was ever that bad – and the Lord kindly corrected as always. What was the reason for my doubt? Why would she lie? Why would I limit the actual Lord’s capability to bring healing to this sweet woman in the middle of Lesotho?? HE IS SO AMAZING! HE LOVES SO DEEPLY! OF COURSE HE CAN AND WOULD HEAL HER! OF COURSE HE LOVES ME ENOUGH TO LET ME BE PART OF IT! God is amazing y’all – and if you don’t believe me maybe ask yourself why. Read 1 Corinthians 12 – the Spirit of God is alive and moving. Don’t let yourself doubt what’s happening, you’re just limiting the goodness you get to experience if you do.