These last two weeks have been quite to roller coaster for myself, as well as other participants on my squad. Meeting fourteen strangers from around the country and jumping into spending all day with them everyday was a different experience. Feeling intimidated by teammates and realizing that my fear and insecurities didn’t come from my Heavenly Father. I gave a sermon on the fly that focused on fear. It was based around the story of Daniel 3, and I used 1 John 4:18 to depict that perfect love strikes out all fear. Which I then applied to fear of evangelism, which we as a squad had that focus to evangelize to the women at risk in Kathmandu. I used a verse reminding us as believers, that God never created us to be timid but created us to empower us. And that same love and empowerment I talked about at our contacts house, was given back to me for my duration of the trip: through my team members which at first intimidated me and in turn became close friends, through leaders who showed me love and compassion when I was most afraid, from my parents who strike me with courage to press on, and their love that I can feel across the Atlantic.
All of which is possible through our God. When I was a two-day plane ride away from anyone I knew, the only things to rely on were God and my team. During various points of the trip I had felt more vulnerable and more afraid, than I had ever felt before. And no way would I have been able to keep this good of an attitude about it, had it not been for the compassion and love I had been shown by my community around me. And accepting the fact that no one else is in control but God, was a bit like swallowing vinegar. Yet, it was also something I felt like was a feeling He wanted me to know, and He wanted to use my hardships to bring me closer to Him.
I learned to endure, I discovered milk tea and momos, and better yet I learned so much about my Father in Heaven. And I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me next!!
