Woah! I honestly don’t even know where to start with this blog. When I try to think of a word to describe this past month my mind goes a little crazy. But if I had to pick one word to sum up this whole month it would be.. Um nope.. Can’t think of just one. It was crazy, awesome, hard, easy, challenging, fruitful, intimate, fun, hot, dark, bright they all relate to different parts of this month.
So this month was technically suppose to be our full month 7 in Thailand like the rest of our squad. But! Sometimes God likes to throw a wrench in your “normal” (I use quotation marks because world race life is as far from normal as you can get sometimes) life to push us. To make us that much more uncomfortable so that we have no choice but to fully rely on him. So we were approached by leadership at the end of month 6 to pray about an opportunity to come back to Cambodia for two weeks to help out at a guest house that Adventures in missions has just recently taken over to make into a future “home” for race teams and backpackers that go through Siem Reap. So as a team we decided that we would take individual time to hear what the Lord wanted for our team. And then we came together and took time to share what we heard from the Lord and how we felt about this opportunity. Turns out we all heard almost the same thing.. Crazy, I know but we also all heard that it wasn’t going to be easy for us. It was going to be really challenging as a team and individually. And we were all going to have to make the decision to be all in through it. The A.I.M. guesthouse has been going through some serious spiritual warfare and attacks from the enemy ever since they’ve taken over but as a team that knows we have a lot of influence in a dark place if we are continuing to be clothed in the Armour of God and walking by faith and knowing that the Lord has gone there before us and is there with us every step of the way, we were up for the challenge. But we weren’t spending the whole month there. Our awesome squad mentor wanted us to be able to experience a little bit of Thailand before we went to help at the guest house. So we went to Siem Reap with the squad, had the chance to spend a few days there with the squad and we even were crossing paths with another squad during that time so we ended up having a worship night at the guesthouse to pray over and prepare it for future teams that come through there and help fight off anything that is not from the Lord and clothe the whole area in peace, love and fill it with the Holy Spirit. After that Z squad headed to Bangkok where we all went our separate ways. From there my team stayed a night at a YWAM base and then headed to Pattaya where we stayed at another YWAM base for about a week. There we partnered with them as they are spreading Gods love in the red light district. They are ministering to women caught in the sex trade. We had the chance to go into some of the darkest places of Pattaya to share the love of Christ with some of the amazing women that are caught in this way of life. Now, if you know me.. The bar is not really my scene. So when we arrived, dropped off our bags and were told we were going to a bar in a half hour to meet and hangout with the women /lady boys that work there, I’m not guna lie..I was freakin’ out a little bit. I had no idea what to expect. I was thinking.. How could I possibly relate to these women in any way? But after praying the whole way there, I was blown away with how the evening turned out. It brought me back to the thoughts of inadequacy I had coming on the race. “I’m not a pastor! I don’t know how to preach!” But I did. Not on my own strength or with my own words but with the Holy Spirit using me as a vessel. I was reminded that the Lord can use anyone who is willing. So was it out of my comfort zone? Yes. But I was there and willing to be used. I ended up meeting this woman named Beauty and she was so awesome. We just chatted and I thought I’d never see her again but I actually ended up seeing her like three other times that week. We also had the chance to go on a prayer walk down walking street which is one of the two most popular red light districts in the area. During this week God showed me that yes I have never had a sip of alcohol in my life but he had me there for a reason. He knew that I was willing and able to go into such a dark place overflowing with his love and not having the temptation of drinking to get in my way of why I was there. This was one of those times when your actions and small talk speak so much louder than straight up preaching to them.
After we spent the week there we got on a bus and made our way back to Cambodia. A full day of bus and borders later we made it back. As we crossed back over the border we felt like we were going home. The world race rarely.. or has never sent a team back to the country that they had already been in, so we were a first which was a cool feeling. When we arrived back at the A.I.M. guesthouse, we received the warmest welcome by our hosts. They spoiled us with pizza (on more than one occasion) and just creating an awesome atmosphere to be in for the two weeks we were there. They are two former world racers, so it was super awesome to be able to connect with them and hear all the awesome things God has done and is still doing in their lives and also be poured into and encouraged by them. They made it really clear how important taking personal time to go deeper with the Lord is. At the beginning of our stay there I actually experienced some spiritual warfare I think for the first time. I was hit with extreme exhaustion and felt really sick on the second day we were there. But as much as it sucked, it was so awesome to see my team, my crew, my family come alongside me and pray me through the whole experience. I think they almost prayed every hour of the day. I think we sometimes forget how powerful prayer is and I now know that spiritual warfare is a real thing. During our time there we all kind of did different jobs all over the place. I was doing a lot of cleaning and random projects around the guesthouse as well as a lot of painting. They also encouraged us to try to connect with the guests that were coming through and just create a warm welcoming atmosphere for them. We were able to meet some really awesome people and it was also really cool to hear their comments when they checked out. There were even a bunch that had extended their stay a few nights because they enjoyed it so much. One of the things that Scott (our host) had mentioned while telling us his story was that the world race is just the preparation process to the real race that actually starts after month 11. It hit me because it’s true. This crazy adventure I’m on is a refining process. God is preparing me for my race which is the rest of my life. Yes we get to experience all these crazy awesome places and meet all these crazy awesome people all around the world but the things that we face and the things that we experience are the same things we have and experience at home. Some of us just have to be taught it different, and have to be pulled away from our “world” to have our eyes opened. God is also showing me that it’s still my choice. You’d think it would be a given to be changed after this crazy experience but believe it or not.. You can go through this whole thing and not be changed at all. Just like at home, we can be presented with all these opportunities to share Gods love with those around us but if we don’t choose to take him up on them then we can just go through the motions and not actually learn anything. Crazy I know but it’s true. This month I was able to have some of the best moments with the Lord I’m my quiet time than I’ve ever had. He’s taken me through some really crappy stuff and he’s also been able to show me some awesome truths about myself that I have heard but never actually believed with my heart. He has also been continuing to walk me through becoming confident in who I am. Who I am in Him. Who he has created me to be and the influence that I have on those around me. My first team used to call me little mouse because I was quiet and not confident in who I was. I never used to speak up for myself or for those around me. But now the joke on my new team is that little mouse is no more. They say “you’re not little mouse anymore, now we can’t get you to shut up!” It’s been so awesome to have them encourage me and walk through this process with me. But at the end of the month God wanted to take it to the next level. He gave me a word to share with the squad. And you’d think that would be an easy thing for me but it’s not. And my immediate response to him was “ok Lord.. This is getting a little out of hand.. I thought I was doing really great with my team and coming out of my insecure shell with them but..really? This? … Okay fine. I’m all in. I know it’s going to be hard and I sure as heck can’t do this alone so if you’re in it with me then I’m in.” So this week we have been in Phuket Thailand for our month 7 debrief and God has been doing some crazy awesome things in my life this week (debrief blog coming soon) and I was able to stand with confidence in front of my world race family and share with them what the Lord wanted them to hear.
And so the refining process continues!
Thanks for your continued prayer and support! I appreciate it so so much.
Until next time!:)
Court
