The past few days have been spent debriefing the last 5 months and preparing for the months ahead. Leadership wanted this time to be a time of refreshment and celebration. We have begun to dig deep into what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what we want to see in the next months. We are searching, questioning, and discussing many topics. Some include, what it means to be the body of Christ and how to we live that out. How do we use our gifts without squelching the gifts of others? How do we bring more unity to the World Race as a whole, within our squads, and within our teams? How do we function as one body? How can we encourage and inspire each other in the midst of our extremely varied preferences and styles?
AIM leadership has done an excellent job at gathering together Godly men and women to coach us during this debrief. There are 9 women that gave up these three days to be available to meet with us girls. They are all different. Some missionaries in Africa, some stay-at-home moms in the U.S., some younger, some older, etc all with different backgrounds, histories, lessons learned, and lessons being learned. They are full of wisdom and it has been a blessing to meet with them. I have been able to meet with four of them and each one has uniquely listened to me, affirmed me, prayed for me, and energized me. Each night, we are receiving teaching from the same men that rained us in September – Seth Barnes, Gary Black, Tom Davis, and Andrew Shearman. They have lots of wisdom to impart to us. We are learning more about trust, being okay with our messiness, and kingdom leadership. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to be poured into.
Many of us joke that this a whole year is pre-marital counseling, but honestly in the midst of ministry, travel, and community living, I am learning so much about myself. I am realizing things I didn’t know about myself, dealing with things I’ve always known about myself, being open to trying new things, and so much more! When we were in Mozambique, our contact took us out to a desert island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. He dropped us off as he took some of the team fishing with him. Since it was Sunday, we decided to have church on the island. Morgan led us in lectio divina (sp?) where she read a verse four times, the same verse, and each time we were listening for something different. I actually can’t remember what the verse was, but I remember the word that stuck out to me that day, “renewing.” I felt as if God was renewing me in all areas. Morgan asked us a question, which I don’t remember the question either, but remember my response. On the island there was no where to get out of the sun, but there was a nice warm breeze. I felt as if God was like the breeze, and He was refreshing and renewing my character, out with the old and in with new. It is so great to know that we are on a process and God continues to mold us, challenge us, and shape us. I have begun to learn new levels of servant hood and God’s sovereignty. I am thankful that He is changing me into more of the Emilie, He wants me to be.
*Check out Ryan Stewart’s blog and go to his photo section to see some good pics of the last few weeks. http://ryanstewart.theworldrace.org
