The Start of Something Beautiful

I’ll be in Chile in less than 24 hours. I don’t know how this is actually happening. It’s been almost 11 months since I found out about the world race, several months of planning and fundraising, telling everyone I WILL be a World Racer, and now, I get to say, “I AM a World Racer.”

All the things that seemed like a great far-off idea, I will now begin to do. I now get to go out and SERVE. To BUILD relationships and disciple and be discipled by my teammates. To GIVE away everything I’ve learned, all the gifts I’ve received, all the love I have to give.

And I don’t know if I’m ready for everything that comes with all of those wonderful things. It hasn’t quite hit me that the World Race will be HARD. I’ve heard time and time again from Alumni that this was the hardest thing they’ve ever done. I love the idea of pushing through when things get hard, refusing to step down in the face of fear, confrontation, and vulnerability. But I have no idea exactly what that is going to look like for me over these 11 months.

Today, though I did get a small taste of what honest, loving feedback looks like with my team. I was SO afraid of that part, but actually, it was GOOD. It was good to hear what they saw and appreciated in me, and to hear them point out something that I can work on to help me grow during our time together.

Something that I took away from my time at launch is FREEDOM. As a daughter of the One True King, I have been set free from my sin, from my past, from worrying about my reputation, my social status, and my own level of comfort. That is something that I definitely feel the Lord calling me to focus on walking in during my Race.

I struggle with worrying about how others view me. Not on purpose, but it’s my natural inclination. Usually that looks like me just being super reserved. Yes I am thoughtful, but I’m also ALIVE and JOYFUL, and unfortunately I tend to hide that. This month, I want to build up a lifelong habit of showing those things to everyone, not matter how they may receive it. I want to step out and show people I don’t know the Father’s love. I want to be someone who prays for people on the street, not caring that people watching might think I’m just a nut. I want to encourage people without worrying they might think I’m creepy for noticing something good about them. I want to speak life to people, no matter if I don’t know exactly what to say beforehand, without fear of what might happen if I mess up.

Well, those are some of the things I plan to walk in from this point forward, and I challenge you to listen for what God might call you to walk in, and to step out and do that.

I’m posting this from the Boston airport, and after the rest of our layover, we will fly through Houston to Santiago! We should be there around 9AM on Wednesday– making for a 30-hour travel day!

Once we get there, my team’s ministry host for the month will pick us up at the airport. We’ll know more about this month’s ministry after arriving, but at this point, I know we will be helping get a church plant up and running.

Thank you so much for reading!

Make sure you subscribe to get updates straight to your email!

I’m not fully funded yet, so a donation of any amount would be really helpful in making sure that I can finish the World Race!