Hello, all in quarantine!
I'm Kiara, and I haven't stepped foot off a ship in 70 something days – We are really starting to understand how Noah must've felt! So… I thought a little life update was long overdue, but as I began to write, I ran into a serious problem: there are just too many things for this blog to be about. Quarantine on a ship. How God working is working at this time. Finding joy in the chaos. But instead, you will see the title of "PPE." A few letters that have been in the news regularly with people seeking personal protective equipment to cope with a global pandemic. For others who know me well, these letters may remind you of what I once wanted to study long before I stepped foot on a crazy ship (politics, philosophy and economics). But right now, these letters make a brilliant acronym for what God is teaching me.
Patience. Peace. Expectance.
For people all around the world, their patience is being tested. Everyone is itching to be able to freely go outside. To see friends. To get a good Chinese takeout. I don't know what it is for you right now, but I'm sure there is something you're waiting for. For me on board, life hasn't changed overly much. We obviously aren't allowed off the ship and into the local community (of Kingston, Jamaica for those curious souls amongst you). But we are all still busy doing random jobs and training onboard. I still spend most of my days with the same people I would have been with before this world craziness began. I even eat nearly precisely what I would've been eating anyway (except that we ran out of the good cheese, but life continues…). So, my patience isn't being tested in quite the same way as yours is probably; life feels relatively normal. God is still teaching me patience, though: patience with Him. Whenever I ask God something, I expect an answer right away, and currently, that is not what is happening. He is asking me to trust Him, and I want more details, but they are not there. I need much more patience to be able to do what God calls for us to in His word.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.
Psalm 37:5
Peace. This comes hand in hand with patience. While I wait on God, I want to be able to trust that His way is truly the best way and to have peace that it will come to be. I know this in my head. I remind myself of it every day and yet still find myself worrying. I know those things will never completely go away until we are having a party together in Heaven but peace, especially in times of so much unknown, is so important. The ship doesn't really know at all what the future holds and that means for me I don't really know either. There are some exciting ministry opportunities that are possible. Still, there are a lot of logistics to move 330 people from 65 nationalities around the world on a 12 tone ship, so it really takes peace to know that God is in control.
Last but not least; expectance. For so much of my Christian life, I have prayed to God simply because as a Christian, that's what you are 'supposed to do'. I never really realised the full significance or more importantly, the power there is when we pray expectantly knowing that God can hear and will answer us. This has been something that God has been teaching me for a long time now, I'm pretty sure I've even written it about it before, but more and more He keeps reminding me of it. I have been reading through the book of Psalms (would highly recommend, it is full of mighty wisdom) and over and over the same pattern is repeated, David cries out to the Lord and then is comforted. David had to repeatedly humble himself and ask for God's help, which he did expectantly, and then God answered him. I want my prayer life to look more like David's.
So yeah, God is teaching me PPE. Not the normal one to study but maybe even more important.
From here I don't really know what comes next. I may end up coming home earlier or later than expected. The ship may stay in this port for the foreseeable future or leave relatively soon. I may step foot on land tomorrow (very unlikely) or not be able to for another 70 days. Who knows? Trick question – only God does… And I have (moderate) peace with that.
Please pray for all these unknowns, especially for the future ministry possibility the ship is looking into! Please also pray for my family, all this unknown sucks for me, but even more for them!
If quarantine is boring you out of your mind and you want to know more about what it's like on a ship, please hit me up on WhatsApp (+447850768772)! I'd love to know how you're getting on and pray for you too!
