(From Hillary Dotson)

My Beloved bring me awake, Take me up to your resurrection place

My Beloved bring me awake, ‘Cause I want to feel Your light upon my face

Awake or asleep? Great question for each member of the team as we waited, endured, or sleepwalked through the five hour layover in Addis Ababa’s one-room airport. In the wake of our 14-hour flight, we all attempted to bring some semblance of life back into our tired, smelly, confused bodies as we used toilet-paperless bathrooms and brushed teeth with the dregs of water bottles (as faucet water from here on out is highly unrecommended). However, in His sovereignty, the Lord had another means of refreshing and awakening in store...

My Beloved take me away, Over Jordan up out of this place

My Beloved, for You I wait, With You here ‘til forever face to face

So as we waited to be freed from that crowded place, the Lord brought us face to face with two new friends: Laura, a girl from California, and her friend Austin, from Raleigh. Yes, Raleigh, NC…he happens to live down the street from Teresa.

Austin 

Some members of our team excitedly engaged and encouraged these two college grads as they talked of their upcoming plans ministering to youth in Tanzania and Kenya. And then there were others of us simply trying to stay awake...thankfully Sarah called me over as Laura began to share more of her personal story. Laura Chance reminds me greatly of Philip from Acts chapter 8. Never before have I met a person more Spirit-led. Throughout her story, she attentively listened to the Lord and acted in obedience. All the while allowing Him to dictate each step, not the world or the opinions of others. As Laura finished speaking with Sarah and me, she asked to pray over us. So, in the middle of the Ethiopian airport we stood and prayed. She voiced specific hurts from our past and anxieties about our future—things Sarah and I had just shared and discussed with each other over the past 14 hours. I had never met her before and had not spoken with her for more than 7 minutes, and yet she knew. And I was reminded that my Heavenly Father also knows.

No more sorrow, no more pain, No more darkness weighing down on me

No longer blind now I can see, Forever light, forever free

This is what I know: God is real. God sees me as His beloved. God cares deeply for me. He cares enough to bring a random stranger across the world to pray over me. He desires both joy and freedom for me. And finally, I know that I “belong to God, so that I may declare the praises of Him who called me out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (I Peter 2:9) Forever light, forever free.