On the World Race, our leadership intentionally sets aside time for our team to have ATL time. ATL stands for "Ask The Lord".

Normally when we go to a new place we are connected with a ministry host, someone who provides housing, food and ministry work. We are connected with our host then have freedom within their plans for us to ask God what He has for us, how we can be most effective. ATL is different.

ATL is when we ask the Lord where we should go, and we go.

Its August and we have been in South Africa for 2 months now and we have about 3 weeks of ATL time set aside to finish off our 11 month experience. Our ATL journey started with a 10 hour overnight bus ride from Eastern Cape to Western Cape. We showed up with all our belongings at a bus station in Cape Town with a strict budget, no plans and little sleep.

And how God showed up blew my mind.

We walked to the Americans' homeland overseas, McDonalds, and wearily began praying to ask God where we should go. The cool thing was, I was no anxious at all about not yet having a place to stay. After praying for a while, we remembered a recommendation from some friends to check out a town called Stellenbosch. We started looking up hostels and reviews, but then one of my friends suggested we should just show up. Then my stomach dropped, what a cool act of faith, but also… we can't just show up!?
Then the Lord gently asked me, "why not?".

We used our whole day's budget to Uber to Stellenbosch 45 minutes away. We arrived at the only familiar place, the local Baptist Church and knocked on the door. As the Uber driver was throwing our over-stuffed bags onto the curb, we explained the best we could to the church employee what we were doing there. She reluctantly let the 9 of us in and started calling local pastors, American missionaries and church members for help figure out what to do with us. We got to pray and worship in their sanctuary, for what seems like hours after a sleepless night of traveling.

God, would You provide for us a safe place to stay tonight?
Lord, give us direction.
You already have this time planned, we trust You.

Let me tell you, 2 hours later we were setting up our sleeping pads on the church floor, with the keys to the building in our hands. We were blessed with a hot dinner and given food for breakfast.
As we prayed about what our time in Stellenbosch would look like, we heard God say to let the Body of Christ be the body. We needed to learn how to trust those around us and receive their love. After 11 months of outward-focused ministry, thinking what we can do to serve those around us, we were called into a time of just receiving.

We were blessed beyond what I could've imagined or expected.

We were connected with local churches and the college ministry on campus. Gosh, it was a community on fire for the Lord in a way I haven't seen in years. We were welcomed fiercely by this group of students preparing to be missionaries. We got to share stories with them and share in the faith. I thought of Acts 2, when Luke describes the early church community as having all things in common. We had just met them, but they became family as we prayed together, ate together, worshiped together and shared God's love alongside each other. Everyone on my team loved Stellenbosch, I was refreshed in a way I had been craving for months.

Then, yesterday while our team was praying about what our next week in Stellenbosch would look like, we heard Him tell us what we didn’t want to hear. It was time to go to Cape Town. Every one of us got clear confirmation that it was time to go. We quickly packed our bags and called the Ubers so we could get to our destination before the nationwide curfew. We showed up to a hostel last night and were blessed with a lower price, and a place for our whole team to be together.

Now, I am sitting in the kitchen at our hostel feelings a little disoriented. Life with God is so wild. He LOVES showing up for us, He LOVES providing for us above what we expect. I am so thankful and so content.

As we were walking through the college town I had a moment. I saw a group of girls my age wearing the latest trendy clothes, out for Monday night dinner at a restaurant on campus. Something I would probably be doing if I were home. I was walking by them carrying all my belongings, wearing a ridiculous laundry-day outfit. And thinking, wow, God loves me SO much to call me to live this wild life with Him. Life with God is exciting and fun and beautiful. I love asking Him what His plans for my life are.

What do you think God would say if you asked?