In today’s message, we interviewed Racer Angelica Spence on how she refused to let her circumstances stop her from sharing the message God put on her heart. The reality of living under a quarantine makes it easy to feel stuck or helpless. But, we know God is doing something big in the world and is inviting us to be a part of it.
WR: So, your World Race was cut short due to COVID-19. How long were you on the field?
Angelica: I was on C squad, which launched in January. It ended after about 2 months and a week.
WR: What was it like being sent home early? What were your feeling?
Angelica: We had been in Bangkok for a couple of days for orientation and were on our way to Phong, Thailand. We arrived at our ministry site after a 15-hour bus ride. It was this tiny little church across from a temple. We just got there and were walking to our rooms when our Squad Mentor sat us down.
We immediately knew.
I burst into tears, a few of us did. Immediately we just asked if we could pray. I think bringing God into the midst of that pain was really vital for us. God was with us. We weren’t going through this alone. We knew this was God’s plan and just needed to step into it.
WR: Once you got back home, what did you do?
Angelica: It really helped that prayer and worship had been my norm while on the Race. It was important to let God into this crisis and praise Him through it. There were so many unknowns with the virus, but there was one thing I could stand on: God is good. Every time my mind would get sidetracked I would come back to that truth: God is good. With coming back, [to America] that truth didn’t change.
We talked with our squad on the way back about how many of us were holding on so tightly to the plans of the World Race. But, how many of us were holding on to the presence of God? Just because we were coming home, didn’t mean that the mission field ended. This was just an unplanned country on our route.
When I got home I knew that this wasn’t changing anything. If I believe that life is ministry and ministry is life then I can continue this at home. I’m just not in Thailand anymore.
I heard from God that I need to share this. So, I started doing live devotionals through Facebook called “Touching Heaven at Eleven”. I realized that even if these are only seen by one person and God can use it to touch somebody, then I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.
WR: What advice would you give to those out there who are feeling stuck or helpless?
Angelica: Just do SOMETHING. Ask the Lord and do whatever it is that He is putting on your heart. I didn’t have any plans to come home and do a daily devotional on Facebook. Maybe it’s sending a text message to the same person every day. Maybe it’s calling a family member. Maybe for you, it is a live devotional. You may not be an extrovert, but you do have influence.
If you or someone you know is doing something to spread the love of Jesus during the quarantine, let us know. We would love to feature them on our pages and partner with them however we can. You can tell us about their ministry HERE.
For more ideas of how to get involved and to stay connected, join our Hope Rising Facebook group.
