I feel so blessed that my family and I were able to experience an amazing adventure to Namibia with Four12, together. So thankful for who God is and how He is the one ‘who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us’ (Ephesians 3:20).
When we (the multi-site church my dad leads on the Isle of Man, Living Hope) first started partnering with Four12, I desperately wanted to visit South Africa where Four12 had begun, to see God’s power at work in that part of the world. Fortunately, when I was 16 years old, I got the unbelievable opportunity to go with a team to Cape Town. After an awesome time of connecting with ‘on fire’ Christians and seeing how the DNA of Four12 brings amazing health and passion into churches all over the world, a fire within my faith ignited.
I’d always known about the nations being the saints’ inheritance…but there was now something new being birthed in my heart.
I prayed for a chance to go back to South Africa again AND to my shock (God again doing abundantly more than I expected), I was sent by Living Hope in December 2016 for another amazing trip to SA. On this trip I stepped out more, grew in my faith and also caught a deeper understanding of the beauty of Four12, what it means to be a part of a spiritual family, even in a foreign country. To meet strangers who ‘you just get’ – one mind and one heart. When I came home from this adventure, I wrote in my journal: “Here I am, Lord, send me!’ I’d always known about the nations being the saints’ inheritance and how we are called to spread the gospel globally, but there was now something new being birthed in my heart. Even though another nation may be three plane journeys away, it may be just where God will lead you. It seemed completely unreal to me that just 6 months after this I would travel with my entire family to spend 6 weeks ministering around South Africa and Namibia.
The 6-week trip consisted of stunning (and long) road trips. You need to understand that the Isle I live on is small by anyone’s standards, and ‘long road trips’ for us mean a maximum of one hour’s travel. We stopped off at different places and partnering churches along the way, and experienced generous hospitality and saw God move in power across churches.
Having time away from my home comforts made me realise again my need for God and His constant comfort. When I took time to slow down from all my busyness back home, I was afforded the time to fall deeper in love with my Creator. Moments like sitting in the early morning in the middle of ‘nowhere’, in the silence of a beautiful Namibian farm, meant God’s whispers were so much easier to hear. The sweetness of hearing those whispers reminded me of how distracted I can be at home, amidst the routine and many pulls on my attention.
God spoke to me about how often we can take Him for granted, in the same way I take our rain at home for granted.
When we were in Namibia, God kept speaking to me about how Namibia is a desert, and when speaking to people, I discovered how desperate the locals were for rain. Living on the Isle of Man, we get a lot of rain, so a need for rain has never been something that crossed my mind. In John 4, Jesus speaks to the woman at the well about how He can provide living water that can quench her thirst forever. God spoke to me about how often we can take Him for granted, in the same way I take our rain at home for granted. It becomes dangerous when we start to forget the wonder of God’s grace and His living water (rains) in our lives, and the constant need we have for water, even if we aren’t in desert seasons.
After this trip, and all God spoke to me about on it, I have felt so challenged to make sure my heart is continually focused fully on Jesus, and not to ever be so comfortable in my life that I stop being awed at His provisions. May we all be those who keep praying more for a passion and desperation to see God move all the time, filled with an expectancy for God to do the impossible; abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. I’m deeply thankful for Four12, South Africa, my home church on the Isle of Man, and all God is doing through us together as partners in the Gospel.
