It’s month 6 – half way through the Race – and I thought it would be a good time to recap what God has done in my personal life since I left America to travel Asia!
Coming on the Race, the word God gave me was TRUST. Obviously leaving home to travel to the other side of the world for a year takes a lot of trust. But God has shown me so much more.
Month one in China was like a launching pad for the next 10 months…. It was a month of rest and peace and God working in my life to prepare me for the rest of the journey. I was able to spend a lot of time in the prayer room at our ministry, growing closer to God. I also grew closer to my team, learning to be comfortable with them and to just be myself.
In Mongolia, our ministry of roaming the city and asking God to lead us grew my trust in Him a lot. I learned to be more confident in hearing His voice and following His leading. That month I also grew more in being comfortable with myself.
In Japan I felt God speak to me that the most important thing about Christianity is my personal relationship with Him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God… (John 17:3). The more I know God, the more I will trust Him. I also felt God saying to find rest in Him and abide in Him even in the midst of our busy schedule. I was able to share this at a local church, which was really cool!
Spending December in Nepal was a challenge… for me, it was the hardest month so far. We faced a lot of spiritual warfare and darkness, and our ministry was challenging. But I held onto God through it all, and I learned a lot about the power of prayer and the authority we have as Christians.
At the end of Nepal, we had team changes. During this time, we were encouraged by our squad leaders to pray about the next season of the Race. It was good timing, because we were moving into a new year, new teams, and leaving behind the cold weather for the heat of southern Asia!
When we got to India, the vision I had for month 5 was to make God my number one priority, and that as I sought Him I would find new strength. So I committed to spending time with Him every morning before ministry began. During this time I did a devotional on listening prayer, and started a journal of my conversations with God.
About half way through the month, God spoke to me about boldness and spiritual leadership on my team. I realized He wanted me to be bold in stepping out of my comfort zone to speak truth to my teammates and point them back to Him.
Then I was asked to give a devotional to our entire squad during our leadership development weekend when we arrived in Malaysia. I didn’t want to do it (speaking in front of people is not my favorite thing), but considering what God had told me about boldness, I knew I had to say yes. So I spoke to the squad about what I’ve been learning through listening prayer and hearing God’s voice.
And since then, God has still been speaking to me about boldness. He’s gotten my attention in various ways…my teammates encouraging me, a listening prayer note from my squad leader, my mom’s note that she wrote me specifically for this month in Malaysia. All these things have been about boldness.
Honestly, I was getting a little frustrated because everyone keeps telling me the same thing and I’m trying to figure out what it means and what I’m supposed to do with this boldness God is giving me. But I find comfort in these verses:
…Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…
-Philippians 1:6
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
-1 Corinthians 13:12
God knows what He’s doing in my life and I don’t have to have everything figured out. I can trust that He sees the big picture even if I can’t. He will be faithful to finish the work He started in me, and someday I’ll look back and everything will be clear!
So the journey continues…. 5 more months on the Race and after that a lifetime to continue learning!!
Thanks for reading 🙂
