Malaysia

Wow, God was at work here. The evidence of His love and His hands at work are everywhere. I discovered things about myself that I didn’t know were there, and things about Him that I didn’t fully understand (and I definitely still don’t). In a place where it can be hard to communicate with words, actions say a lot. Love knows no language, understands no boundaries. Love is universal. My prayers quickly became “let the wake that I leave behind me be that of love.” I’ve also gotten a lot better at hearing and understanding the voice of God. There were times where I was pretty sure God was speaking to me, and I stepped into that in faith, and it was made clear to me afterwards that He was speaking to me. The Lord really grew me in so many ways, and I’m excited to share them with you!

Maybe the biggest growth I see in myself is my willingness to work with kids. During our time in Thailand I worked with kids a lot, but didn’t enjoy it. And I was a little upset to find out that our ministry in Malaysia was going to be teaching younger kids again. But what I didn’t see was how God was going to grow me and push me out of my comfort zone to reach others. I found myself actually enjoying being at the school with the kids. We would have 1-2 teachers at each table with the students, which made it easy to connect with the kids. On our last day at the school, a few of us were able to go in early and fill the room with worship and prayer. We walked around the room and laid hands on every chair and on every table and prayed for the kids. And this made a MASSIVE difference in how the kids were acting that day. They were so quiet and ready to listen, it was awesome. Anytime you invite God into a space, it makes a difference.

I never would have guessed this, but my favorite ministry I’ve found is home visits! We were able to go at least once a week, and many times we went 2 or 3. It is so awesome to be invited and accepted into somebody’s house even when they don’t know who you are. We would go to these homes, have a time of worship, give a message, and pray. After all that (sometimes before) they would give us a meal! These people who don’t have much to give, were willing to give what they had. It was so encouraging for me to see and experience that. Anytime someone was asked to do a house visit, I would be the first one volunteering. Several times I was asked to give a sermon, and I never had anything prepared. But God is bigger than that. He can speak through me whether I have something prepared or not. So anytime was asked (which quickly turned into me volunteering myself) I would just pray before, and the words would come to me. I would ask God where he wanted me to read from, and what to speak about. And He showed up every time. There was one time I was asking where I was supposed to read from, and I felt that it was 1 Corinthians chapter 3. The next day, the verse of the day came from 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It felt like God was telling me that what I heard was correct, that it was from Him. I fell in love with preaching here, I would pray “Lord let my words be yours. Let these people hear my voice, but your words.” And He never let me down. My faith and trust in Him grew so much in Malaysia. One of my sermons was on Sodom and Gomorrah. I wasn’t sure where I was being led to as I felt called to speak on this, but I followed my calling anyways. And after I gave the sermon, our translator said that she felt the message was for her. It is so rewarding to step out in faith and get to see the fruit of it immediately.

I’ve already touched on hearing God, but I have a few more examples that I’d like to share. During my first sermon, I thought that I wanted to talk about Romans chapter 5. I had already read the chapter and had started to break it down, but my mind kept wandering to the story of the bleeding woman and Jesus raising the “sleeping” girl. So I stopped mid sermon and changed track to that. I didn’t think much of it until a few days later when talking to some other groups who preached on the same scripture. It was a powerful moment for me to see God speaking to us and telling us the same thing. Another time I felt God speaking to me was near the end of our time in Malaysia. I felt called to wash the feet of all the girls on the squad (all 10 of them). I obeyed, and I washed them on the Friday before we left. After washing them, while on our way to church, I got the verse of the day from my Bible app. It was John 13:14 “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” Again, it felt like this was meant for just me. It was like God was telling me that I heard him, and he is making it crystal clear that it was his voice I was hearing.

I am so blessed to have spent this time in Malaysia with so many people that I love. God is so good. I can’t say it any more clear than that. God is sooooooo good. Something I’ve been saying so far on the race is “even when the answer is no, God is still good.” And after reflecting on that, I would change it to “especially when the answer is no, God is still good.” He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we need, and when we need it. His “no” is a blessing. We don’t know what he is protecting us from, but we can trust that he is good. When I think about the things that I’ve wanted, I praise God that he didn’t give me what I wanted.

So just remember that. God is good.

(May 9th is the day that I washed feet)

John 13:34-35

“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Also, if you haven’t listened to the new Jeremy Camp song “Again” you need to listen to it.