rebekahkrooswyk - A Racer’s First ATL

(Sorry again for a late blog post, and a late Happy Easter to you!! Jesus is risen and ALIVE and reigning on high - and that’s the reason we’re on this trip in the first place!)

If you read my blogs often enough, you’ll likely notice that I always comment some prayer requests. (That’s because prayer is hugely important, that’s a blog for another time!) Last week I asked for prayer for our time of ATL, or Ask The Lord. This is a fairly common principle/practice on the World Race which entails having a completely open schedule for a set amount of time - could be an afternoon, could be a month - and, as the name implies, asking the Lord where to go and what to do. Or as the leadership over our squad described it, ATL is the Lord being your ministry host and having things for you, and you asking Him and seeking Him about it. It’s making ourselves extra available to a) see what He’s doing and b) join in it wherever He asks.

At the end of our Guatemala debrief, we were moved around into new teams and roles and given five days for ATL. Five days where we needed to ask God where to go (including finding where to stay, which was in all honesty a very nerve wracking thing for me!) and what to do - how and who to minister to. So last Thursday, our new team (me, Alexa, Tanner, Noah, and Patricia) got together for lunch and brought ideas of whatever we felt the Lord had given us for ATL. A couple of team members felt strongly that the Lord was leading us to Guatemala City - so we took a step of faith and started contacting people we had met here about any options for housing and transportation. It seemed that the Lord was indeed leading us in this direction, because in just over a day - within 30 hours - we had housing for the duration of ATL and transportation to the city secured, all within budget! And it wasn’t just bare minimums either - God has been providing above and beyond our expectations. This was such an amazing, faith-building start to ATL!

We’re still in the midst of ATL, but here are a few highlights so far:

having space to rest, pray, seek the Lord and worship as a team
making time to intercede for Eswatini and all that comes next
getting to go to a house church meeting and a house of prayer meeting on Easter Sunday
meeting a family at the house of prayer meeting, and the Lord opening doors to getting to spend more time with them and minister to them!

This week we finish ATL - and our time in Guatemala altogether - and travel to Eswatini! Though it will be hard to leave this special place that’s been home for two months, I’m also excited to see what God has in store next, especially as we continue to get to see His goodness and faithfulness through ATL and hearing His voice more and more. ❤️ And I encourage you to set aside some time and try praying and “asking the Lord” about how to spend it - you may be surprised where and how He leads!