Transition.
If I could figure out where to start, this blog would be better… but what do I even say?
Since being home, (which has only been a little over a week) I have run into so many people, and there have been such a variety of things that have been said. Everything from “where have you been?” and “how was your trip?” to things like “while you were away, changing the world, I just sat at home.”
Responding to any of those questions is somehow a challenge for me. When someone asks how my trip was, I would need hours to really be able to tell them. So, I often respond with “it’s hard to explain, but it was an incredible year!”… but I wish I had hours of time (and the energy) to tell someone all that I learned and experienced.
But this blog isn’t really about my trip.
I wanted to say that I’m sorry if I ever made this 9 month trip that I was on, seem more important that what you are doing at home, or at school or work.
I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I changed the world while you sat at home.
I understand that this doesn’t apply to everyone, but it might, so here is an attempt to clarify that confusion.
I went to 3 countries for 3 months each. I tried to learn as much as I could about their country, their culture, and attempted to learn a little bit of their language. I held dozens of babies. I hugged hundreds of children. I greeted thousands of adults.
The truth of the matter is, I didn’t make that much of an impact on changing the world.
I wish I could say that I did.
I wish I could say that hundreds of people will now be in heaven because of what I did. I wish I could say that dozens of women and children who have been sex trafficked, are now being educated or in safe homes. I wish I could tell you that the babies in Zambian villages who need vaccinations, will now receive them each month.
But if I told you those things, I would be lying.
The impact we really had are things that I will never know, only God knows.
I am a strong believer that God uses us to plant seeds in people’s lives, but that the Holy Spirit is the one who changes the people or even their situations. And the biggest impact I can have comes from interceding for them, through prayer.
One of my favorite quotes is, “do for one person what you wish you could do for every person.”
My daily prayer is that my heart would break for what Jesus’ heart breaks for. And through that, I would be able to love people the way He loved. That I could see people the way He does.
So, maybe I did play a small part in changing the lives of a few.
But the opportunity I had, through The World Race changed me!
It changed my perspective on just about everything.
I could list all the things that come to mind, but this blog would end up long and boring, and you would stop reading, so I wont. But it has changed my perspective on so many things. Everything from what qualities I look for in a husband, to my view on foreign aide in impoverished countries, and almost everything in between.
I am so thankful for this crazy 9 months. Im thankful for my teammates. Im thankful for each of the hosts that we had. Im thankful for you. And your prayers.
But I didn’t really do anything that you can’t do here. There is poverty here. There is sex trafficking here. There are people who still don’t live in the freedom we receive from a relationship with God.
There is so much work to be done here, in Kentucky (or wherever you are!).
It doesn’t have to be in Guatemala or Thailand or Zambia.
So, please don’t think that my last 9 months were in some way more important that yours.
Because they weren’t.
My goal for this blog is not to say that you need to be involved in more non profit organizations (which would be wonderful, of course), but to realize that the way we interact with every single person we encounter, matters. Just smile more. Say people’s names. Make them feel important. Be more patient. Enjoy more moments. Watch the sun set more often. S l o w d o w n , big time. And most importantly, seek to glorify the King in all you do!
We are all world changers.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for following my journey! I am so thankful for you!
XO
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. – Oscar Wilde
