“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this city or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If this is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'”
~James 4:13-15
I don’t really know where to start with this post, because I’ve got some pretty significant news for you all…
I’m staying.
Yup. I won’t be leaving in September to go on The World Race, because the Lord has asked me to spend another season here in the States before I go. He asked me to stay, and I said yes, because isn’t that what this whole journey is about? Saying yes to whatever God asks of you, even if it means staying. And for those of you that know me well, you know that staying is definitely not an idea that I would have come up with on my own.
It is truly with great joy that I tell you all of this new plan! Because I’ve found that saying yes to my Savior brings joy and peace that is abundantly greater than anything I’ve experienced from following my own desires and plans.
“This is not a life that I dreamed up on my own or even knew I desired. I am watching God work, and as I ‘delight myself in the Lord’ (Psalm 37:4) by doing what He asks of me and saying yes to the needs He places in front of me, He is changing the desires of my heart and aligning them with the desires of His. As I go with Him to the hard places, He changes them into the most joyful places I could imagine.”
~Katie Davis
I have to be honest, though, I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I first felt the Holy Spirit urging me to stay and embrace this new plan that the Lord has for me. Actually, I was terrified and, admittedly, a little angry. I’m a planner – I like to make the plan, know the plan, and carry out the plan as seamlessly as humanly possible. But therein lies the issue – humanly. Because God doesn’t really work like that, does He? No. I’ve found that the Author of creation is far more creative than the plans that our limited imaginations can come up with. Another favorite Katie Davis quote of mine says, “Thankfully, God’s plans do not seem to be affected much by my own…and thankfully, God’s plans also happen to be much better than my own.”
In a Facebook message to a fellow former J-squad member who also switched routes, I wrote:
“Honestly, switching to January would mean confronting three of my greatest fears – staying (I’ve NEVER been afraid of leaving, the idea of staying here in my normal American life is much more terrifying to me), disappointing people (all the people that I’ve told I’m leaving in September, which is…practically everyone ha.), and other people believing that I’m making this decision out of doubt in His faithfulness (because I haven’t met my fundraising goal yet). I know that the Lord doesn’t call me to a spirit of fear, and so I believe that the opportunity to face these fears head-on is further indication that I should launch in January.”
“For we have not been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”
~2 Timothy 1:7
And so, it is with this same joy that I tell you of the new plan that I have said yes to-
January 2015, Route 4 of The World Race!!
More details to come soon, but if you’d like to check out my new route and the 11 countries that I’ll be going to in 2015, then click here!
Thank you all for your continued support and for walking through this season of life with me. It means more than you could ever know this side of heaven.
Love,
Cassady
