“Dont follow your heart, follow the Holy Spirit”

I entered my home in Butajira last night around 630pm feeling a little down. Upon walking into our living room, I noticed another new face sitting on the couch. Great…another person to meet, another name I would inevitably forget, and now I have to mentally gather all the Amharic words I know so I can create small talk with this new guy. I was just not in the mood and my family has been having many visitors lately.

I decided to say hello, smile and amuse the man for about 5 min before telling my family that I wanted to take a shower. I made sure to take extra long to gather my towel, soap, flash lights and everything I needed to shower at night time, AND I took a very long shower. Which is really hard to do when its a cold shower and you don't really enjoy being stung by the ice cold water at night. But I was determined to have the guest leave before I had to go back in there, talk and sit with him and my family for 3 cups of coffee, when all I wanted to do was sleep.

When I walked into the room, it seemed like no time had passed at all. Everyone sat in the exact same positions just smiling and laughing and feeling all kinds of happiness that I was apparently missing from my life. Today just wasn't a very cheery day. A kid punched me on purpose, I was craving a ton of foods that aren't found in country, and I had been feeling spiritually deprived for awhile now. I missed the bible studies with my family, I missed praying with my friends, I missed the community I had been building at The Vine, I missed driving in my car while blasting and screaming/singing worship songs. I just missed it all. So I walked into my room, closed the door halfway, and proceeded to just waste the night away alone.

“Ashhh eeyyyy” My inate called.
“Abet” Yes I replied, while heading back into the living room.
“ We will pray” she said with a smile.

“oh…. ok.” I said with a sigh.

My Ethiopian family is very religious and we have had many discussions about their denomination of Christianity and how it relates to my own. In short we have all the same core beliefs, the only difference is their belief that Christians should not sing, dance or listen to music that is not worshiping Jesus. And I cant argue with that, I believe that all things should be done to glorify God, but its not like you’ll go to hell if you shake your groove thang every once in awhile haha. And my family is very charismatic…which I enjoy.

This was not my first time sitting through one of their praying sessions. The first time, a male friend of my abate took out his bible and began preaching. His voice started off steady, even, deep and full of love. He spoke slowly and with emphasis. His speech sped up, as his voice filled with emotion and passion, and as he continued his voice grew louder. He would say certain phrases and my family in unison would say “Amen!” “Amen!”  “Amen!” It was like the “Amens” were rehearsed and everyone knew when to say them, as if on cue. But instead of sounding fake and unauthentic, the agreement and unison “Amen’s”, were deeply moving. And they seemed to grow in vigor with the preachers sermon. I bowed my head, saying my own little prayer, while listening to the man preach and pray out loud in Amharic. Knowing that all of us, from different worlds, speaking different languages, were here together and praying, thanking and loving the same God was incredibly moving. I had no idea what the man was saying, but I felt the holy spirit move that night, I felt the presence of the lord.

But this night I was dragging my feet and just not in the mood. I told myself that this prayer was going to last too long, that it was in Amharic and how did I REALLY know what they were praying about, or praying too?

The man began his sermon, I bowed my head and closed my eyes, telling myself that i was just going to plan my day for tomorrow instead of listening. When I began hearing the mans voice, and noticed that he was speaking in English!

“1st Genesis says that God is the creator of all. He has made you, he has made everything, and it is good.”

I looked up at him and smiled. And he continued.

“Because the Holy spirit is in you, and you are in God, you are greater than anything in this world. Than any satanic thing and you have power over it! Greater is he that is in you! He has life planned for you, and all good things…”

And he continued. His sermon was mainly in Amharic, but every few sentences, he would translate and change it into English. And I knew he was doing it just for me. I knew my family brought this man, their friend, into our house to preach just for me. And I was overcome with joy.

“ Amen!” “Amen!” I shouted as he preached his broken English, and my family laughed, because I was the one saying the “Amen’s” this time.

My heart was overcome with gratitude. My sour mood and negative thoughts dissipated. My spirit was fed, and for the first time in a long time, I really felt at home. As I went to bed that night, I was so filled with emotion that I began to cry. God is so good, and I am so blessed… and I hope my inate doesn't hear me crying now, or this is going to be really weird and difficult to explain with this language barrier.