I sit here at "The Blue Gecko", a fabulous coffee shop in Fish Hoek, just a fifteen minute drive from where we are living in Ocean View. It's my fave little coffee shop this month — a great place to lounge around, get a fabulous cup of tea or cup of coffee and catch my breath. This month, this race, this season of my life is almost over. A week from today, I will be on an airplane for over 24 hours getting to the infamous US Soil.
That's crazy.
This year has flown yet it feels like I've lived 10+ years. I've experienced great joy and great sorrow, much laughter and pain. The people that have become my family I will soon say goodbye too and we will all step into a new season of our lives.
Carly, Christin, Tess and I at The Cape of Good Hope
I'm reading a book right now called, "The Wisdom of Tenderness" by Brennan Manning. I've been carrying it with me the whole race, it took me this long to start this not so daunting read. Yet, the Lord knew that it would be what I needed to hear the final month of this journey.
Living with the "wisdom of tenderness" is to know that God is utterly in love with you. That nothing can separate you from that love if you are in Christ Jesus. I've known that in the past, but the race has allowed me to live that reality it out. It has allowed me to live in the reality that I am a daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
"This tenderness also encompasses an unspoken assurance that Jesus will provide grace for the next step on the spiritual journey."
"Living in the wisdom of tenderness is an unending adventure in trust and dependence."
We, in Christ, have humble confidence that the grace of the Father is there for the next step in the dance of life. It's already there. It's been given. Without anxiety, Abba's children can move forward, knowing that the next and the next and the next steps will take care of themselves. Abba's children don't worry about tomorrow! (My paraphrase).
As this season and the next one ends — as a daughter of the King, I don't have to worry. This incredible truth, as it has penetrated my heart has lead me to another promise, another attribute of God.
God is constant.
He doesn’t change. His love never gives out on me. And Jesus, Himself never gives up on me.
There a million mixed emotions as we enter into the last week of The World Race. Excitement, nerves, anxiety, fear, sadness but most of all an overwhelming sense that God has done a heck of a lot in me this year and I am not going back home the same.
I gotta be honest with you, 11 months is a long time. And I squirm with excitement when I think of the prospect of seeing my family and friends so soon.
Yet, God is constant.
He was constant yesterday. He is constant today. And He will be constant tomorrow.
He is teaching me how persevere. How to run this race with perseverance, keeping my eyes on Him so that I may lay ahold of the prize. The prize of eternal life with Him.
My prize isn’t Connecticut with my family or Bozeman to see my friends. It’s not the next season of life or The Philippines.
My prize and your prize is eternal life with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
I love South Africa. I love teaching gymnastics to a bunch of hormonal teenagers. I love my team and I love the house we live in. I also love my mom, dad and sister. I love Bozeman – the people there and the mountains that come along with living in Montana.
I love these people and these things.
Yet, Jesus is the prize. And He will sustain me to get there.
See, Jesus is the One who gives strength. One of His greatest miracles is sustaining us through a dark, broken and depraved world so that we might be the light.
So, I cling to Him as my constant. I cling to Him to shine through me so that I might bear His love. I look to Him as I yearn for my physical home, while truly yearning for my spiritual home. He is my constant as I leave Ocean View and spend time with my L Squad in Cape Town. He is my constant as I spend over 24 hours flying to America. He is my constant as I tell family and friends of the stories of this year.
God is constant. He sustains me.
And that will forever bring me joy.
Helping out at a VBS in Ocean View !
