This month has been restoration for my soul!
I am in Belize with my team of six girls and our amazing squirrel Richelle. We are pioneering Belize for AIM. No one has been here before. I feel incredibly blessed with the responsibility AIM has given us.
We are currently on the Ambergris Caye, which is an island off the coast of Belize. I know, doesn’t sound too World Racey does it? But the Lord knew that myself and my team would need to be surrounded by His creation, His ocean, His palm trees, and His sand right now, at this time on the Race.
We are staying at the YWAM DTS base here. They have been unbelievably good to us. They have invited us into their worship sessions and community nights. They gave us a roof over our heads and food to eat that was within our budget, all they asked was for whatever we felt God calling us to gift them with. Right? I know!
On Friday morning the YWAMers have worship from 8-8:45, I wasn’t originally going to go because I needed to do my quiet time, however about five minutes later I knew I needed to be there. As we were worshipping I felt the Lord telling me to go up and speak to the students. These students are brand new, they started their school on Tuesday. The evening before I had been talking with Adam (a new YWAMer), he asked me for three pieces of advice as a newbie in this missions world.
We as World Racers in month 10 have wisdom and advice to share with everyone and we just so happen to be with some young missionaries just starting out on their journey. There is no better time for me to have intentional conversation with everyone around me.
Through these conversations the Lord has confirmed the things I have been hearing Him say over the last few months. He has continued to show me that my passions are His passions and my desires are His desires. That He will provide for my future, all I have to do is trust. They have allowed me to verbally process and understand more of what the Lord is teaching me.
So here is what I shared with Adam and the rest of the YWAMers, which are things I am still learning.
- Be expectant and have no expectations: Know that God can and will provide, show up and move. But know that it might not be in your timing.
- Let go and be who God is calling you to be: I am not the same person I was when I walked onto that plane in Atlanta 9.5 months ago. The Lord is molding and shaping me into the woman He wants me to be. Embrace all He has to offer you and step into situations you have never been a part of before.
- Get to know and serve those who you serve along side: Yes, you are there to serve the people of whatever country you are in but you are also there to serve your team and the missionaries you are serving with. Some of the most amazing stories I have heard have been from those I am serving next to. You also have no idea how long it has been since they have had rest, they are on the ground day in and day out. Hug them. Pray for them. Bring them chocolate :]] Love them well!
- Fight to make worship a priority: When I started on the Race we were use to training camp and launch type worship sessions, Loud, lots of instruments, lyrics to follow. By the time my squad got to Ongole, India (month 2) and had a worship session we all hated it. There was so much death spoken over corporate worship. I LOVE corporate worship and I was one of those saying I hated it. It took six months for the Lord to redeem worship for our squad. Remember worship is NOT for you. It is for the Lord. He demands and LOVES our worship. He doesn’t care if you know all the words. He doesn’t care if you have a guitar and drums and piano and sound system. He wants you and your heart. Fight hard, don’t let the devil get in the way and ruin something you have loved.
- Don’t ask why: I am a person that seeks to understand the reason behind things. Why something is done one way, I am a work smarter not harder type person. Things WILL NOT make sense while you are in the world. They build differently and do things that do not make sense by American standards. But we are not there to question why they did it this way or that, we are there to serve. When I questioned everything last month, my attitude was ruined and I did not want to haul one more bucket of mud or pick up one more tumble weed.
- Wake up each morning and choose in: Last month was a hard one for me. I didn’t sleep for close to eight days, I was exhausted. We were doing manual labor and some mornings the last thing I wanted to do was get up, get dressed and go out to dig mud out of a basement. However each morning at breakfast my team leader would say “It’s going to be a great day guys!” Speak life over the day, don’t speak death. Your words have power and they can make or break your day.
