Welcome to my first ever blog post!!! I’d like to invite you into the journey of how I came to apply for the World Race and explain what “Give Thanks, Be Emptied, Live Fully” means to me.
How I was led to the World Race:
I first heard of the World Race (WR) in college when my RD went. Back then WR seemed awesome and the idea was incredible but I didn’t think I would ever have the courage to give up my life for a year and serve across the globe. So for a while it went to the back of my mind. Then in January a friend and I started reading Les Miserables and Papa God began to speak to me through the character of Monsieur Beinvenu. Let me tell you, the 5 minutes the movie and musical shine on him do not accurately portray who he was and how he impacted Jean Valjean’s life.
Monsieur Beinvenu was a bishop in the Catholic Church assigned to a region of France that no one else wanted. He came from an old bourgeoisie family and left a life of luxury, wealth, and privilege to serve the poor and neglected. Time and again I read of how he died to himself, his humanness, and exemplified Christ. Even when Jean stole his heirloom silver place settings from him his response was, “And, in the first place, was that silver ours? … I have for a long time detained that silver wrongfully. It belonged to the poor. Who was that man? A poor man, evidently.” Then when Jean Valjean is brought back to him Monsieur Beinvenu gives him his silver candle sticks too!
In those pages God stirred my heart. Now, I get it, he’s fictional. But why should that matter? God spoke all the same and if I could be one thing, I would choose to be a vessel for Christ; Monsieur Beinvenu is a powerful example of what a Christ follower should be. So I asked God if I could be that.
After months of praying I heard God say ‘go’. And like a true broken human I freaked out. Immediately there were a million reasons why I couldn’t do something that daring. Then I read this from Jen Hatmaker, “Obedience isn’t a lack of fear. It’s just doing it scared.” God totally shut me down! That was the moment I decided to commit and take action, God had answered my prayer.
Give Thanks, Be Emptied, Live Fully:
Oh, how to explain this… My faith journey has led me to these three phrases. This is how I want to live, not only this coming year, but my entire life. My deepest desire is to one day see Jesus’ face and have him say “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
I believe a deeper relationship with God begins with giving thanks. Not just for the good, but for the ugly & the uncomfortable. This is crazy difficult, and I fail at this daily. When we give all we have back to God in gratefulness (and by the way all we have is from Him) we begin to see through God’s eyes. Thanksgiving leads to joy because you aren’t focusing on yourself; instead you shine each moment back to God and trust that His plan is better than yours.
“Be Emptied” This may be self explanatory…to me, emptying means serving, giving of your time and being all in. The funny thing about God is that to grow in Him you must empty of yourself in order for Him to fill you. So often in our world we strive to “go higher”, get the promotion, win awards, etc. But God calls us to lower ourselves. Just look at the Last Supper. Jesus, God incarnate, who has seen the beginning of the universe and can count each hair on your head, kneels down to wash the dirty, dusty, rank feet (I mean, think about it, hygiene back then was not what it is today) of his disciples (and even the feet of the guy he knew would betray him). To be emptied is a life long journey of dying to yourself and allowing God to shape you.
When both giving thanks and being emptied are combined I believe we can live fuller lives in God (all by His grace) and find joy. Jesus constantly magnified God and put the Father’s will before His own. This is how I want to live. My hope for the Race is to ultimately be Jesus’ hands and feet and live with abandon in God.
~Bethany~
