We have spent the last 6 weeks in Northern Africa, and God has shown me so much! Coming into this country, I truly had no clue what to expect, except the fact that He had something good! To put it into one sentence, He showed me the beauty and ease of making everyday life ministry and ministry everyday life! Here is an overview of each of the 4 cities we visited!! (We are asked to keep the city and country names private! )
City #1….
Once we arrived and settled in, we decided to go out in pairs, simply asking God what He had for us that day and for the time we had in that city. Another girl on my team and I started walking and praying. We found ourselves at a mosque and decided to simply sit on the steps and wait for the Lord to give us more direction. A few minutes later, this young boy came up and gave us a big, beautiful hibiscus flower. He and his sister walked away with big smiles and left us with big smiles as well…. It was so kind and thoughtful! It reminded me how joy is so easily spread by giving and receiving, even with a free gift like a flower! The rest of our time, we found flowers to hand out and simply bring a smile to people’s faces. God reminded me how, at times, He asks us to just be a “simple joy” to others, taking the pressure off of doing works for Him and simply abiding in His Spirit of peace, joy, and freedom. There is a time and a place for having conversations of the Gospel and a time to simply bring a smile to the faces around you, because Jesus sees each one of His children. We got the opportunity to have some conversations about the Gospel, go deep with the people of this city, while also doing the small things in everyday life to put others above ourselves. Not only all of this with the people of this city, but with each other as well. He taught me the importance of personal growth with Him as well as the growth within the body of Christ…. My fellow brothers and sisters with whom I live daily. These 2-3 weeks we had here served as a beautiful time to serve one another… whether that was making lunch for everyone or encouraging/ praying for one another! Community life is so beautiful!!
One of my favorite weekends of our time in this first city was our “Bible Burn” weekend. Before we even left for this trip, the Lord had stirred my heart for reading His Word straight through with no stops, filling the space and our minds with nothing but Him. This took 69 hours with 13 people taking 30-minute shifts of reading. We took some time to sleep and eat, of course, but we were simply captivated by the coherence and power of the Bible for almost 3 straight days. This, being over Easter weekend, made everything that much better! It truly gave a new perspective on the power of God, His consistency, His character in everyday and SO much more! He taught me what it is to walk in a deeper peace due to being so fully immersed in His Word. It has re-shaped the way I read the Bible and sit with Him ever since!! I think it would be cool to do it in Chronological order next! 🙂
City 2…
Next stop, we went to more of a desert city! Immediately, the Lord revealed the joy in this city just from the community they had created here! The kids were always out playing and always down for a hug or high five, instead of being hesitant to acknowledge strangers, let alone foreigners. It was very refreshing to get a “bonjour or Salam” (greetings in their languages) in every passing we had! The Lord also revealed how meaningful music is to this culture and city specifically. The first night in the little camping hostel we stayed at, they played their cultural instruments and music for us… It was so beautiful and we felt right at home. Then, because they saw the guitar we carried in, they asked me to play for them. This was such a special moment because we played some worship music for them. I always envisioned coming into a country with such little praise unto the Lord and being part of a spontaneous worship session… lo and behold, it happened! We all worshiped, and they joined with some of their instruments. Turning the joy we had from community into joy from the Lord was so special! I’m so grateful for the opportunity this season has been to grow in worship!
Another way the Lord used worship in this city was through sharing our playlists with some of the women who clean the campgrounds! One of the girls on my team visited one of the women’s homes and shared some worship with her! The next day, this woman was listening to the same worship and singing along as she cleaned. Hearing worship coming from a local was so beautiful! 🙂
Another part of our desert time was more unfortunate. I came down with a sickness, which prevented me from joining our adventure day in the middle of the desert. (Despite being in the general desert area, we still lived in a small town.) We had planned an overnight trip to be in solitude with each other and the Lord, camp, and live the simple life of no distractions! The night before…. let’s just say that chicken taco for dinner, didn’t stay in my stomach very long…. Or anything else! Considering my personality and how I thrive on adventures, I thought missing out on such an event would be so disappointing. I found myself content with a day of solitude with the Lord (and one other girl who was sick) God was constantly reminding me how we don’t need to be anywhere specific to seek His presence and there is good in every single situation we come across or choose into because He is constantly interceding for us. (Romans 8:34) This seems to be a reminder that He gives me a lot! 🙂 This was encouraging to even see my growth from the last few years and how God has given me such a beautiful taste of Him that truly does bring contentment in all circumstances! Knowing who I was 1-2 years ago, I can pretty confidently say I would not have been content! He is so much better than the best this world can offer, though, so how could I not be now?
City 3…
Praise God, by the time we left, I had almost fully recovered… despite not wanting to ever look at a chicken taco again lol. Anyway, we took a train to get to this next place, and after a dry and hot week in the desert, an ocean city was very refreshing. Here, the Lord continued to emphasize the everyday aspect of ministry! The first night we were there, we met a girl whom we ended up connecting with later. It’s hard moving so often because there simply isn’t time for too much depth, but this connection reminded me how each person simply longs for community because that is what we are made for! It truly is SO easy to connect with people and form relationships over time… this is something that changed my perspective about even coming home soon! I will think of this whenever making relationships that I can have a longer term! Throughout the week here, we made a few more connections and even joined a church here. The believers are SO passionate and they have such a beautiful community here (I find that a lot in these cultures, which is something I LOVE!) I loved this week, it was one of my favorites in this country!
City #4
Finally, we finished in our final city for just 3 nights. The Lord was so kind in solidifying the work He had done in this country on our final day here! Despite meeting 2 girls and getting to spend our first 2 days with them, because of music once again, the last 2 conversations I had before leaving are what stick out. Just hours before getting on our train, we were at the grocery store and ran into a group of Americans from Harvard… crazy timing, since we will be seeing a lot more of that shortly. ( Americans) I shared our faith and the way God moved while being here, It was a beautiful conversation. Not long after, during our last meal here, a local started a conversation because he thought we were with the Americans from Harvard. I explained we are not in school right now and continued the conversation. He had a lot of good questions, which led to the opportunity to share the Gospel because he had never heard of it before. This was a longer but sweet conversation, ending just in time to head to the train! I didn’t go out of my way to search for people to share with today, I was just walking in a heart posture of interruptibility, in which I believe we are asked to do. I love how this came about today, not only with the Americans, but with everything being so natural.
God did SO much more than mentioned above and truly moved my heart to a deeper posture of surrender to Him. He gave me such beautiful examples of walking out the Great Commission in an everyday life setting. Despite that possibly being harder in America due to our hurry and hustle culture, that doesn’t give me an excuse to just blend in. We are called to be the salt of the earth, and I’m grateful to truly have a deeper understanding of how! I’m excited to go home and live this out and be able to form those longer-term relationships that my heart longs for!
Here are some of my fav photos!!! 🙂
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