***Disclaimer: this blog is a little long, but it’s full of advice that I wish someone would have given me before this journey.***
As I enter into month 5 on the race I would like to share with future racers about my journey thus far. I want you to understand areas that I have had to withstand, successes that I have experienced, and limits that I bestowed upon myself. I in turn want to challenge you to press into (World Race verbage) these different areas whether you’re in month 1, you’re going into training camp, or you’re debating whether or not the World Race is for you. Nevertheless, you have to be willing and prepare yourself to indulge into these places if you want the best to come out of your race.
Accept Community:
It took me a few months to open my eyes to the realization that I needed to live in true community. At first I was not cognizant to the fact that my world race community was my family for the next 11 months. Although you can google chat, facetime, or skype your family, they’re technically not in your life the same way that your World Race family is. They’re a million miles away!! LITERALLY! You can’t cry on their shoulders when things are going wrong.
I, however, chose not to treat my team or my entire squad like family or friends. Instead of learning to do life with them, I shut them out, chose not to love them, and I definitely didn’t allow them to love me. It took me until the end of month 3 to realize that I hadn’t been choosing my team or my squad. I had allowed myself to be so wrapped in “Brittine” that I didn’t see the harm I was doing to myself and to others.
Challenge: If you sign up for the World Race know that you’re signing up for 30+ people to love you, to be in your business, to challenge you, and to push you closer to Jesus. From the very first day accept the community that the Lord has given you, even if you don’t like it or want it. It will bless you. It will challenge you. You will find success in areas that you would never have dreamed of.
Be Vulnerable:
On the race you will find that you have to really be open/honest with your team and your squad. I have never been the type of person to really share my life with anyone. I was raised in a family full of secrets, so why would I want to share my secrets with people I barely know? I didn’t want anyone to know how broken and ashamed I really was. I was reluctant to share things with anyone, even those I was closest to.
My vulnerability went as far as me telling people my pet peeves and sharing a glimpse of my testimony. In month 3 the vulnerability process started. I am now on a new team in month 5 and the vulnerability that we are having as a team is so healthy. I can honestly say that this team will be great for me. We are choosing to let one another know what’s exactly going on inside us!
Challenge: While you’re on the race I challenge you to lead with vulnerability. Be the person that shares who and where they really are. Be open with your new family, not because you want to but because it’s a way to show them love. Be willing to go to the hard places with someone else, even if you or they have to drag you there. The Lord will bless you in them. Don’t always hold everything in. Be the friend that you would want others to be with you. BE YOUR TRUE SELF. Ya know, the self that our heavenly Father has called you to be!
Choose Love:
This may possibly be the biggest lesson that I’ve had to learn on the race thus far. I have a tendency to be SELFISH! I have a squad leader who gave me the hardest feedback I ever received. To stop being SELFISH. Since I was so in to myself I was unaware of the people around me. I wasn’t choosing to love them. Most of the time I was choosing to ignore them.
The Lord has called us to love! I mean just open your Bible, it’s EVERYWHERE. You don’t necessarily have to like someone in order to love them. With my new team I have decided to press in right away. To choose to love them from day 1 and not later on down the road, like I did with my previous team.
Challenge: Love the people that the Lord has divinely placed you with. Allow yourself to truly walk in the way of love talked about in 1st Corinthians 13.
Relinquish Control:
If you signed up for the race in order to control your current journey, than you’re in for a rude awakening. Everything that you want the race to be, it’s definitely not going to be that way. If you are a control freak, you are going to have a challenging race if you do not learn how to relinquish control. The race is not about you, it’s about JESUS. Trust that He has gone before you and prepared the perfect path before you.
Challenge: Let go from day 1. Let the Lord use this journey as His own personal growth process for you. Allow Him to choose what it is that He desires you to do. Things will not go your way. That is something you will learn early on. Honestly, you don’t know what’s best for yourself, even if you think you do. So I challenge you to SURRENDER it all to the Lord. It won’t be easy, but it will be healthy.
Trust Your Leadership:
I have the most awesome leaders on the World Race. The problem that I have is I don’t find myself always trusting them. I wonder sometimes why they make the decisions they make. Why they put people on the teams that they place them on. In the beginning of the race I thought I could make better decisions than them. That I knew what was best for me.
However, the truth is that the Lord has placed all of my leaders in leadership for a reason. It wasn’t a mistake, because well, God doesn’t make those. He knows exactly what I, my team, and my squad need. Trusting my leadership was the best decision I have ever made. Things started to fall into place once I began to trust them.
Challenge: Decisions will be made that you necessarily don’t agree with. Get over it and keep on moving. There’s nothing you can do to change it. Learn to be a follower, and your time to lead will come. The Lord has placed the Holy Spirit in each of your leaders, trust that God knows what He’s doing. Trust that He speaks to them like he does to so many of us. Trust our ultimate leader, the Lord, and life will be full of…
