Moving Forward, When it makes Sense to Go Back

After a very long fourteen-kilometer walk, we had arrived at our newest location, Dartlo. We pitched our tents, ate, and soon fell asleep, knowing we had another long hike ahead of us. Little did we know that God had other plans. That night a storm passed through, but the rain started out being a nice little tap in the background of many noises. Then it rose to a drenching crescendo, driving out the stillness of the night.

The view was absolutely incredible in Dartlo! It was a quiet little town, it felt joyless until my team and I found a joyful family. 

I awoke, feeling well-rested, and stepped out of my tent only to find Justin’s tent missing. I questioned it just long enough to hear Aaron explain that his pack and everything inside his tent were soaked; come to find out, Justin and Scotty had similar issues with their tents. That morning we gathered and conversed about moving forward or going back due to our equipment no longer meeting the requirements needed to finish the trek.

I loved this team, ya’ll! After we had found out that our things were soaked, by the way, that’s Aaron on the right after finding this out; instead of complaining or being upset, they laughed and played games together.

We prayed and sought after God because it made sense to go back. The equipment we had brought no longer suited the journey; some of us now had wet equipment, and the rain was set to continue the rest of the trek, plus the trek only became harder after this village. So why wouldn’t we go back? The logical idea would be to turn around, and that’s what we all felt like we were supposed to do. So we agreed and slept in abandoned houses that night, preparing to go back the following morning. 

We woke up, had our quiet time with God, and began packing until Jerome came and dropped some jarring news on us. Leadership had met and prayed earnestly over the decision to turn around and go back; what they received from God was exactly the opposite of what we had originally planned to do. Jerome followed up by asking us to pray about moving forward when it makes sense to go back. 

The picture on the left shows part of this amazing team and behind them is the path forward. We felt we weren’t fully equipped to move forward, but God had way more amazing views prepared for us, as you can tell on the right. 

After praying, most of us still had some doubts, but we knew God placed Jerome, Lindsey, and Raquel in leadership over us. So we trusted their leadership and their leading of the Holy Spirit. Reluctantly, we packed our tents, placed our remaining food in our packs, tightened our shoes, and picked up our packs; the journey was long ahead. Moving forward meant surrendering to Jehovah Shalom, knowing our peace came from Him, knowing our search for the ONE meant taking steps forward, never looking back.