Chillaxed to the max...(Blog from Africa)

So it's day eight on the World Race exposure. Four and  a half of those days were spent traveling. Hopefully, we will be starting ministry tomorrow. I did get to go to the Center and play with  the kids for a couple of hours and had lunch with them a couple of days ago. But so far we have had so much down time. 

I know the World Racers need this break becasue they are in month seven, but I am here for one month. One month to pour in and be poured into. One month to love the people I come  into contact with. Now, less than 20 days.   I didn't fly across the world to relax and sit here doing nothing I think I get enough of  that at home! 

God is still whispering in my ear PATIENCE. I knew I shouldn't have prayed for it ;).

I was excited to go home and tell people how I witnessed all the amazing things that God  did while I was in Africa, and how well God used me, and how I'll never be the same, and think that no one will ever understand  and how I'll be jacked up on the Holy Spirit. 

But this is where I fail.

This trip is not about me. It's about God.

Not what I can do for God or what He can do through me, but how I worship Him and recycle all things back to Him. 

He may or may  not do all or some of the things I hoped to see Him move thorugh. But when I do go home, I will share how God taught me patience and how He  taught me to seek  Him even when I'm in comfort. 

God is here too? (Blog from Africa)

I hate being comfortable. When things start to get too comfortable, I move on. Literally, I pack  up and leave, plan a trip, shave my head bald, erase any "secular" music on my ipod, etc. But this month I can't do any of those things...

I came to South Africa in hopes of living amongst those in poverty. I hoped I would have to use a squatty potty. I hoped that there would be no running water and that I would have to use cold second-hand water from a bucket to bathe in. But here at beam house, I take nice hot showers in a huge bathroom, I took a bath with oils, I can walk around the compound in safety becasue there are walls separating us from danger. 

My hearts screams at all this! Why do we have to drive 30 minutes away to go to ministry? Why do we live so far from the kids  that play innocently in the streets? Why do I feel like I'm in the padded room of Pretoria and going insane in all this safety and comfort? 

How easy I forget GOD IS HERE TOO. 

When I shared this with the  other girls on my team they told me how in past months they strugggled with the same thing. And one said that she was expecting the race to look messy and that God revealed to her  how easy it is to seek him in material poverty and challenging living situations, but how it is a test to seek Him in comfort and safety. 

I've been told many times arriving here that God places you, yes where you are needed, but also where you need to be. I've been so ready to throw everything away for Jesus,  becasue that's what I need to seek God. 

But this month, He asks that I have peace in Him when it gets comfortable and that I learn to seek Him even when I'm not suffering. He ask that I try to understand those whom I have judged because they live in comfort and to let go of any pre-existing assumptions that I have made. 

This is the challenge. I prayed for God to wreck my life and show me a different prespective. 

He's doing exactly that.