Then there are these moments...

You know the kind, a brief almost seemingly insignificant moment in time, maybe it is a few words said in passing, or a look given from across a crowded room. Whatever the scenario, no matter the place, it moves you, provokes you to act, drawing on the human instinct to follow your heart. Or in cases like my moment last night, it moves you to your core awakening your every pore to the unmistakable weight in the room.

Last night was one of those moments.

With tears brimming my eyes ready to tumble downwards, I watched as a group of our kids performed a dance to the song “City on its knees.” I’ve seen them act it out a million times before. But tonight, in this room, something was different. Something was there with us. I looked around the room at these children feeling more love than I ever thought possible. So much more than I thought I could ever love a once stranger. All around me I saw Jesus. I saw Him in the concentration of those dancing. I saw him in the little ones running around with their hands held up to be swooped off the ground. His face was illuminated in a gentle teenagers smile as she sat next to me. His presence was thick, almost suffocating in the atmosphere. In that moment I had to stop, breath, and count my every blessing.

Jesus called me here to Children of Zion Village for a specific reason and even if I never know or see that reason, I was brought here to feel, see, and taste Jesus in the way I did on that cold Thursday night in August.

As I sat there overwhelmed with love, emotion, Jesus, sweet Mona came and sat with me engaging in simple conversation. When the teams impending departure and a question of any other volunteers in the near future coming to join us, I simply answered with a smirk and a “sorry, its just me” sarcastic answer. She had her hands lightly playing with my hair, combing every piece into place; sweetly she said words that permeated every ounce of my being.

“Auntie, you just belong here. You are like one of us.”

A moment in time, a simple phrase said in the easiest of moments with simple words from a sweet teenage girl will forever be branded on my heart and memories of my time here. I can’t even begin to express the welling up of joy, love, and raw emotion that consumed me.

I am simply where God wants me and He made that evidently clear.

I don’t know what the Lord has in store for me in the future, what path He has planned for me, but I know for certain that if that is what it feels like to be right in the midst of His will and Holy presence, then I would blindly follow Him anywhere.

So today I am thankful for this place, because sometimes out of the blue, something clicks and you know then, that there are these little moments that define it all.