February 8th is the day I got baptized. I rededicated my WHOLE life to Christ. I have been baptized before but when I did, if I can be honest, I didn’t give my whole life over to God. I kept a hand on the World. I wanted to be able live however I wanted but I also really wanted to have God be a part of my life. I half heartily got baptized. That decision had gotten me pretty far in life until I went on the Race. God called me out, he wanted my whole heart, he wanted everything from me. My dreams, my past, my future, he wanted it all. On February 8th, 2016 I gave him my all.
On February 10th a hammock broke while I was sitting in it, sending me 3 feet down to the concrete on my tailbone! We went to see a Nicaragua doctor who said i had a bulging disk and needed to rest. So for three weeks I was on bed rest. I watched as my whole squad (oh yeah little detail its all squad month so all 34 of us were together) got to go out and do ministry. It was getting near the time for us to be traveling by buss to Honduras when I got worse. My left leg started to go numb and tingle. The muscle spasms got to a point where I couldn’t bare the pain anymore. Together the doctor, my squad leaders and I decided it was time to go home to seek medical attention there. Two days later my dad came out to get me and I was off to the United States.
The minute we got home my family took me straight to OSU hospital where they ran a bunch of test and decide that I don’t have a bulging disk. I have a fractured tailbone. So they admit me and I get pumped full of pain meds. Enough pain meds that I don’t really remember the week being there. They sent me home saying that I need to be on bed rest for a couple more weeks and to do physical therapy.
It’s day 10 at home by myself stuck in bed. I decide that I am finally going to let God have it. I just start yelling and letting him know how PISSED I AM! I ask what is he thinking? Why did i sign up for what HE wanted me to do, and then a MONTH into it he sends me home? Two days after I rededicated my life to him he sends me home? What the hell is going on? THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE!
After about four and a half weeks of this, I finally hear God say something as I’m going to bed. “This is 40 days in the wilderness.”
At first I didn’t want to hear this but at the same time I was glad I was finally hearing something. I was reminded how Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness with the devil before he started his ministry. Jesus was tempted, tried, and things got horrible. And he withstood it all.
That’s when he brought it all together for me. It wasn’t a mistake that I got hurt two days after giving him my whole heart. He brought me home because he knew that we had some heart issues that we need to get rid of before I officially started my ministry.
March 15 started my 40 days in the wilderness with Jesus.
After praying about it all night, here is what God has called me to do everyday. I am to have two hours of quiet time with him before I start my day! I am to be in constant prayer for my squad, my family and the people that supported me to get on the World Race. I hope you’ll join in this journey.
