A raw blog post from my time in Myanmar, on the World Race in 2018.
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Going on the race I knew I would go through hard things.
I chose to be uncomfortable. I willingly decided to abandon basically all my material possessions, loved ones, and first world comforts.
I am hot 90% of the time and the rest of the time I am only not unbearably hot at night, because I previously prayed to God to knock me out. Let’s just say it’s a problem when you bend over and drench a students paper from your face sweat.
I am covered head to toe with extremely itchy mosquito bites and my ankles are the size of watermelons, (ok I may be exaggerating just a tiny bit but they are huge to the point where I got rolls on my ankles y’all!)
I have gotten used to bucket showers. I actually really enjoy them! It feels so nice to pour a huge bucket of water on you after a long hot day, even if the water has twigs, bugs and leaves in it. For real though. On this journey you truly learn to appreciate the smallest things like: food, accessible water, showers, western toilets, toilet paper, AC or really just an accessible fan, and working electricity. Basically you learn to appreciate EVERYTHING we take for granted back home in the states. This journey is humbling and refining to say the least.
Now I don’t want to seem like I am complaining for this whole post, because that’s not my purpose at all. I wanted to invite everyone in on my experience, the pretty and ugly; the good and the bad. Let’s be real folks. Life is amazing, but sometimes painful. It’s all about how you look at it and where your hope lies.
And I chose this life.
You want to know why? Because in the Bible God talks about His disciples abandoning everything they have: their loved ones, possessions and comforts. All for the sake of the gospel. He didn’t say it would be easy, but it’s worth it. Losing your comforts is worth it when you are sharing Gods love. He wants us to share His love near and far. That may look like sharing the gospel with your neighbor or coworker or getting on a plane and coming to a closed country to share His love to those who may have never heard it before. It’s all worth it; He’s worth it.
For God, I will gladly be sweaty, covered in bug bites, and have a swollen body. As it says in Philippians 1:21 – “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” This month I am reminded of this verse especially since we are in a closed country and can’t publicly share the gospel with those around us. I find the old saying to be true: actions speak louder than words. We may not openly be able to share the love of Christ with people in Myanmar, but we can share Christ’s love with how we live our lives, the words we speak and our actions.
So to be honest, this last week I was in a rough spot. I was battling spiritual warfare and found myself complaining a lot. My lenses were more focused on my circumstances rather than why I was even here in the first place. My circumstances were driving my attitude and the Lord quickly put me in check. He was saying, “Yes this may be a hard month Hannah, but I still have things to show you and ways to stretch you.” WOW. Okay I get the message now! Haha.
My desire from now on and for the rest of this year and my life is to continue to abandon those comforts and to live as Christ would. Loving the people that are hard to love. To keep pressing on through the hard things and finding joy in the little moments.
Be blessed,
Hannah
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