Maybe I’ve mentioned this before, but life on the road can be exhausting. And when you only stop in a place for a few weeks, it never really feels like you settle anywhere for long enough to truly rest. After eight and a half months, I think I have a better understanding what Paul was telling the Galatians when he said, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
Don’t get me wrong. I am beyond grateful to be where I am. I wouldn’t give up a single day I’ve had on the Race, especially the hard ones, because the reality is that this is eleven months. Month 12 will be here soon, and I have already had moments where I realize just how badly I’m going to miss this life.
But this blog isn’t about coming home. It’s about what I learned on one of the days when my body and my mind were feeling the wear of going, going, going for eight plus months.
We spent all week painting again, which is more physical work than we’ve done since Month 1 in India. I had run an errand with Blair Grace and came back to the house and to the reality that we had an evening full of events for which I would need to be “on.”
At that moment, to be completely honest, I wanted to crawl in my bed and hide from every person and every responsibility that was waiting for me to do what I committed to do when I came on this trip, which is love and serve people more than myself.
I think it’s really comforting to see that Jesus had those moments too. Mark 3:7 says, “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea.” There were times when Jesus tried to get away, but he always responded with compassion when the needs of the people interfered with his desire to withdraw. I wish I could say the same for me.
On this particular day, I was cold and tired and sitting in a room full of people watching a movie in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. That was when my teammate Ellie asked someone to come help peel apples because she is allergic to them. I volunteered, and that simple act of offering to serve was when the night started to change.
We were cutting up the apples to dip them in chocolate for the kids who were here. I helped pass them out when we were done. And after we had dinner, we had a No Talent Show (kind of a like a Talent Show, but as the name suggests, having talent is not required for participation). It was one of the nights that I’ve had the most fun and laughed the hardest on the Race.
I laughed as my friends and I joked around, and I saw the hope that this home truly offers the people it welcomes as girls got up to sing or show things they have made. I saw the opportunities they have to experience a life other than the one the world handed them. And I saw the beauty of people from different places and backgrounds coming together as family to laugh and sing and pray worship. It was a mystically beautiful moment.
And as I reflected on that night, I realized that as I was laughing and singing and dancing I was no longer tired and worn out. I experienced the truth that “the joy of the Lord is [my] strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
At our last debrief, we learned the importance of learning to rest well. Last month, I relied almost entirely on physical rest to sustain me, and to be quite honest, it wasn’t enough. I realized at debrief that I need to look to the Lord to find rest, not just the things that I think will give me strength to continue.
So this month, I don’t usually sleep in as late as I could. I get up in time to spend some time quietly seeking the Lord in the mornings, going to him to find rest for my soul (Matthew 11:29). And I find joy in the simple gifts my Father gives me everyday. As I look to him and find joy in doing his will, I am strengthened and enabled to do what I came here to do.
That’s a promise he offers not only to me or those committed to full-time ministry. That promise is available to you as well. So don’t grow weary. And you find that the second half of Galatians 6:9 is true as well: “in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
