Over a recent weekend, we had the opportunity to go to a local church in Bulawayo called Revival Church.

I can’t begin to explain how blessed I was by this church service. Upon arriving, I felt so many different emotions. This is a very contemporary church and was a lot like my church at home. There also were several people from America, South Africa and the United Kingdom from there.

For a second, I felt like I was at home. I was so overwhelmed for a few minutes that I was beginning to cry. I felt so at home, but then I remembered I wasn’t. At first, I was kind of scared at how overwhelmed I was by being in a place that reminded me so much of home because I thought about how I would feel when I was actually home.

The pastor at this church was absolutely incredible. Because it was such a diverse church and many missionaries attend there, the pastor noticed us right away. He called us out in the service and asked people to come pray for our World Race team.

People gathered around us and just prayed over us. It was the sweetest thing, mostly because he simply reminded us that we are always so busy pouring out and giving, that we are not being poured into and refilled enough. We are doing the serving and are not being served.

He explained to us that this church wanted to serve us because we have been so busy serving others. This pastor reminded me of how important it is to be refilled and refreshed, how important it is to be filled with the Lord before pouring out all that we have to those around us.

This church service was so refreshing. I walked out and felt like a completely new person simply because I was poured into and filled up by the Holy Spirit and by others. This pastor spoke life into us. I fully believe that the Lord had ordained for us to be there. This pastor spoke to us in a way that was only from the Lord. The Holy Spirit spoke through him directly to us, and that was so evident.

He is a servant. He is an ordained pastor, and he is doing the work of the Lord so clearly. He refreshed my team and I that day when we needed it the most after one of the most exhausting weeks that I have had in a very long time.

I was greatly blessed by this church. They filled me up and breathed life back into exhausted and tired places. I love what I do, where I am and the journey that the Lord has me on, but the Lord reminded me how important it is to be filled up and refreshed in his name.

Keia Blair is a Seymour native who attends Cincinnati Christian University. During her nine-month mission trip around the world, she is submitting a series of blogs that will appear in The Tribune. Send comments to [email protected].