My Faith Journey on this long journey

Of all the things this trip has done for me, it has done the most for my faith. After two years of being more and more consumed by work, I was growing slowly and consistently away from intimacy with God. This trip has served as a complete rejuvenation and refocusing of my attention toward God. It has also fostered a renewed and refreshing depencency on Him.

I have felt convicted for some time about my lack of specifically and outrightly sharing my faith with others. We are called to do that and there is no excuse for disobediance. And why would we not want to share this joy with everyone we meet? On this trip I wanted to intentionally change that somehow.

God worked in me, in us, first. We were reading the Bible individually, usually daily, and not really discussing it. We decided it would be a great opportunity to do a daily Bible study together. Dave chose the book of Matthew as that is what he was reading at the time and we have been committed since. It was a bit awkward at first which is kind of sad since we used to read it together all the time when we first met, but we quickly got into the swing of things and began looking forward to it each day.

I also brought along a few other books which I did not start really reading until a month or so into our trip. Two by Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Obediance and The Insanity of God, and one called I Am N by Voice of the Martyrs. I cannot say enough about the first two books. Both are life changing and challenging, and speak directly to the command to share the gospel especially in hard places.

My prayer on this trip has been to practice sharing my faith with others and that God would provide opportunities to do so. When you ask to be open to God’s will, you better get steeped in the Word, keep your eyes open and hang on. He provided many opportunities to share the gospel. Some we outright failed, some we blundered, some we felt we did something right, but all were great opportunities to practice and can be redeemed by Him. You have to start somewhere and it’s easy to look back and see what else we could have done or what more we could have said and how.

There was the time we encountered a homeless man and were able to serve him by sharing our resources. Then there was the young hitchhiker we picked up. And another man who flattened both tires on one side of his car and seconds later we happened to pull over at the same area. He was amazed that two complete strangers would spend several hours helping him. We told him we had just read in the Bible about helping those in need. He was so impressed with this he immediately told someone at the tire shop we arrived at not long afterwards. He just could not believe that there are people like this in the world. Then there was the Asian lady who gave me a pedicure in Thailand who works 12 hours/day 7 days a week. The American dive guide in Thailand who was still recovering from a painful divorce.

I think my favorite was the time we were invited to camp in someone’s backyard after accidentally attempting to camp on private property. We accepted the invitation and spent half of the next day hanging out with him. He shared his loss of hope, his grief and bouts with depression and drugs. We began to share the hope of Jesus and I tell you what, there is no high like sharing Jesus with someone especially when they are open to it.

Another great thing is that we traded contact info with several of these folks and can continue these conversations.

Looking back at how God has blessed this trip and His intricate involvement in our lives is humbling to my core. It brings me to tears. Just before this trip I was deeply and freshly reminded of His personal love for me, and throughout this trip He has been faithful to keep reminding me. It is so easy to resort to forgetting or doubting, and get down on myself or start trying to take control of everything again.

Shortly after arriving in Perth I was particularly struggling with those nagging anxious thoughts that creep up when you’re trying to fall asleep reminding me of every socially awkward experience or shameful choice I’ve ever made. We were both suffering from the weariness of travel that can make you snappy and bitter. In short I was feeling worn down emotionally and physically. We had also toured a prison and felt the weight of evil in that place. Thankfully, the church we attended the next morning was overflowing with a message of love, from the worship leader to the compassionate grace filled message reminding me to run into my Father’s arms, and how he views me as his child. It was just what I needed that morning to soothe my soul. It was one of those times when you feel like God himself is speaking to you. It is hard for me to even convey the depth of it in words, but God knew very much that I needed a strong reminder that morning of His love for me. And yes, I was crying throughout the service.

Just a couple of Sundays ago near Melbourne we attended a great little church and the passages preached on were two parables from Matthew- ones we had just recently studied ourselves. Then that night there happened to be a performance in Melbourne based on the gospel of Matthew. It was originally scheduled for a month earlier, but had been rained out and rescheduled for the night we were in town. I love when God confirms His presence and involvement in our lives.

There was the Sunday morning in Strathmore listening to a passionate longterm overseas missionary share his experience and then offer individual prayer. My heart burned inside of me to go up. I hesitated for a moment, then saw the open space between a few other people up there which I saw as my spot so I pushed past my inhibitions and went up. Then I heard several others follow suit. I can’t quite describe what it is like to have someone lay hands on you and pray a blessing over you and perhaps a prophesy if you will, and to confirm the path you’re on. His words still ring in my ears. I kind of feel like Mary did with all these experiences- “storing all these things up in my heart.”

I have absolutely LOVED attending a different church every Sunday allover New Zealand, Australia and one in Indonesia. All the brothers and sisters in Christ we have met are so welcoming and loving. It’s as if we already know one another just like family is when you haven’t seen each other in a while. The most mind blowing concept of it all is the awareness that even if we never meet again on this side of eternity, we will be reunited in heaven forever. I just can’t wrap my mind around how very awesome that is. It has been so encouraging to my faith to meet believers literally allover the world. We have also met and heard from longterm missionaries which is so inspiring. Not many people know it, but I wanted deeply to be a missionary from an early age. It just hasn’t played out how I thought it would.

Before we left for this trip I wondered if I was somehow being disobedient to God by leaving my job and going on a 5 month vacation of sorts. But now I know that this was somehow all part of His plan. He can use all things for His glory and purpose. And I am excited to see how he continues to grow and use us for His kingdom when we return home. I’m sure there are so many more moments I could share about on here. I’m just so thankful that He has restored my joy in Him and brought me back to seeing Him in all things big and small, given me a new perspective on persecution, and an eagerness to share the gospel.