I’ll be honest. Jet lag has been kicking my butt. Real hard.
The first night we arrived I didn’t think it was going to be so bad. Our contact told us that IF we wanted to wake up for breakfast, it would be available at 10 am. However, if not, we should all be present to lunch at 130 pm. I laughed in my mind when he said IF to breakfast, “Pfff… Of course I’ll make it to breakfast… does he know who he’s talking to here?!”
… I woke up at 1 pm the next day to one of my friends telling us lunch was in thirty minutes. Slept like a rock for at least 12 hours. Yikes!… I then proceeded to have one of the most hilariously off days of my race. I couldn’t even manage to poke the tomatoes we had at lunch with my fork until the third or fourth try. The jet lag has gotten hold of me.
The next night’s sleep was not so sweet. Waking up at least 4 times throughout the night and being officially awake at 630/7 am. Then realizing that in my mind, it was only 11 pm of the day before… slightly depressing, don’t you think? But alas… the show must go on… so I got up and struggled to not nap all day. Thankfully, we went into town and I got to visit a castle with a few of my friends…. A freaking castle! & I wore a dress to feel more like a princess. Solid. But still, the jet lag has gotten hold of me.
& Now I sit up writing this blog that probably only half makes sense. It’s now 330 AM on April 7 in Albania, but 730 PM on April 6 in my mind. I went to sleep around 1030 pm exhausted, slept for a solid 45 minutes, and woke up with not a tired thought in my mind. The jet lag has gotten hold of me.
However, God has blessed me in these waking hours. When I initially woke up, I laid there for a while listening to my iPod and trying to fall back asleep. However, pretty quickly I felt God calling me to get up, go to the third floor balcony, look at the stars, and listen to Him. Just simply go and listen to Him.
It took me a while to muster up the courage to go, because if we’re being honest, listening to God is scary. It shouldn’t be… but to me it often times is. He is so big and wise and typically asks me to do things that are extremely difficult for me to do… therefore; I irrationally fear His guiding voice.
However, God kept pushing me and pushing me to go. I’m learning to obey this command. I’m learning to push past my fears of listening to His voice and just going – because I know it will be more beneficial to me in the long run. I know it will be more beneficial to everyone in the long run. I know it will glorify Him in the long run.
So after fifteen or twenty minutes, I’m not really sure, I grabbed my blanket, crawled the stairs up to the third floor, and sprawled out on the porch so I could stare at the bright, clear night sky.
It was beautiful. It was such a good time with the Lord in which He spoke a lot of truth and comfort into my life. Truth and comfort that I so desperately needed.
One of the major things that He brought to light for me was the fact that His plan for my life is so much greater than my own. He brought to my attention that it was a little over a year ago that I laid in my bed in my apartment in Chicago telling Him, “Hell no, I will NOT go on the World Race… so you can ask somebody else to go because it’s not going to be me,” while trying to fall asleep.
Look at me now.
Look at me now.
Look at me now.
I’m on the World Race.
(Yes, I typed that to the beat of: “Look at me now, look at me now, look at me now, I’m gettin’ payperrr”… though “getting paper” is one of the last things I’m actually doing at this point in my life. Excuse my thought process, I blame it on the jet lag).
& Being on the World Race has been so good. I’ve learned so much and have grown in so many ways. I’ve already had so many experiences that I never thought I would have had in my whole entire life – experiences that I never would have had if I had stayed in America. I have begun to see God in a bigger way than I ever have before. I have begun to confront a lot of issues in my life and in my relationship with Him that so desperately needed to be confronted. I have grown in so many ways that I may not have grown in had I stayed in the States.
All of that to say: I am humbled tonight with the fact that God is so much bigger than I am and that His plan for my life is so perfect.
I never thought I would say this: but I am thankful that the jet lag has gotten a hold of me – for if it had not kept me awake throughout this night, I would not have had such a beautiful night with my Maker.
