It’s Not Hard…Just Breathe

One of the speakers during our Awakening event in Cambodia, talked about women and how we are physical life givers but we are also life and light givers through our words and actions. We breathe life. As I thought about that going into Laos where communication could be very difficult again, I began thinking about how I could still make my time effective. I can breathe. That’s pretty simple. Simple yet not always easy. When my body undertakes heavy exercise, my breathing is much more labored and difficult to take a simple breath. In a spiritual sense, breathing life becomes difficult when relationships get messy, things don’t go as planned, pride and comforts of life blind your eyes, feeling of uselessness and apathy crowd in. But it’s my choice to either allow those things to hinder my breathing or I can allow them to simply be hurdles I jump as I continue my run until I get to the end. 

So far in our five out of nineteen days in Laos, I have had ample amount of time to breath. 3 bus changes and a breathtaking ferry ride landed us on the Island of Don Det. We spent less than 24 hours there before my team took the ferry back to the mainland, a 2 1/2 hour van ride then on to a 12 hour sleeper bus. We got dropped off at the station and we stood there. Not having any further arrangements made at that point. Like we didn’t even have a hostel booked for that night. Thus began our first of many Ask The Lord moments. My team gathered around and did a CCP (closed country prayer) and asked the Lord what our next step was. He made it clear we were suppose to go into the city and check out a hostel I had recommended to me by an M in the city. We got to the hostel, out of budget by $1. So we prayed again. I called the M and explained our situation. He was so gracious and helped give us direction for other hostels in the area. From that conversation my team and I were greatly encouraged by all the ministry

connections he had in the area and ways we could get involved. We ended up not staying at that hostel but another one about .7 miles. And with no local transportation money left in our budget we had one option…yep, we walked it, with all our gear. Not the worst thing I’ve done on the Race but definitely don’t want to make it a regular thing. When we debriefed later that night about our many ATL moments throughout the day, I thanked my team for respecting what I believed the Lord was telling me at the first hostel to wait. I don’t know why but everyone else was ready to go to the other hostel but I was hesitant. When I voiced that I thought we should wait a few more minutes before heading to the other hostel, no one questioned it. It was really beautiful.

The next morning we had no plans. We sat together as a team after breakfast, prayed and literally waited as the Lord unfolded the plan. The M contact I spoke with yesterday wanted to met us for lunch at a restaurant about a 45 minute walk away. That morning one of my teammates had the word walk on her mind from the Lord. So, we walked!

Our time with the M was so refreshing and encouraging. To hear his stories and his heart for the people in Laos was a privilege. One of my teammates said it so well, this M was the Bob Goff of Asia! We also got to meet some locals who help run Campus Crusade for Christ and another M couple who are starting up a school. So many ministry opportunities and we are praying the Lord will use us to partner with them during our time here. As if the burger and fries weren’t the best thing I’ve eaten on the Race, getting to listen to the M and make connections with local believers lifted my team and I’s spirits and gave us a new vision for what our time here in Laos could look like. As we prayed before our walk back to the hostel, we prayed against Satan’s attacks and everything he will try and do to not let our time here be effective and help build the Kingdom. Please join me in that prayer! Pray for our team to continue showing up ready for whatever plans the Lord has for us, pray for team unity and vulnerability, health and energy, spiritual discipline and growth, open hearts and ears to hear from the Holy Spirit, and for each of us to be interruptible by the Lord throughout our day.