Transforming stories

When I was chosen to go on the South Africa trip last spring I was incredibly excited, but also a little scared and weary. There was something inside of me that kept reminding me that I was broken. And something that was reminding me that even though I was fighting through darkness that God was going to use it, I just had to be on the look out.

In our trainings for the trip each of us on the team and the leadership team would share our ‘defining moments’. I learned as I heard the different members of the team’s stories that we were all twined together. That our stories were matched to each other and that we would be able to support each others strengths and weaknesses.

I was transformed by this information. I was strengthened and encouraged. And I didn’t know how I was going to be impacted by this while on the trip. I just had this feeling that God was showing me and giving me the tools to keep fighting no matter what happened while we were in South Africa

When I was younger I had a simple tonsillectomy that completely changed my voice. I had to go through speech therapy to learn how to use my voice again. And still to this day I have to think before I speak and slow down. While in South Africa I was working a lot with the kids in Sweet Home and told the Bible stories for VBS. We of course used a translator for this. I felt when I was getting translated for that it was going fine, but the next day when I was going to give my testimony in Sweet Home for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children [OVC] The woman translating said that she could  not understand what I was saying and would not translate for me. I was completely blindsided.

This was not something I had thought to prepare myself for. Not only had I been hit with an overwhelming anxiety the night before but I had now been plummeted with this insecurity that came all the way back from my childhood. It was like I had been slapped in the face.

That is when I was reminded. Keep fighting, keep going. I have always said that God has given us our story and our life to share with others and that is what He was calling me to do in that moment and I was not going to let anything stop me. One of the team leaders that was there sat next to the translator to tell her what I said though in reality she only had to tell her one or two sentences.

I finished that afternoon feeling lifted up. Like I had faced a demon head on and came out the other end only a little shaken. And it was ok.

I realize that God had a reason for ever member on our team to go. I realize God had a reason specifically for me to go. To show me that through Him I can do anything. To show me that in that moment where I thought I could never feel smaller, I would come out changed. 

-- Meghan Reeve