I didn’t expect to have a difficult time with re-entry from the Race.
I remember coming back from Zambia, Africa in 2010 after a summer of serving at Mission of Love orphanage in the village of Mukumba. It was hard. I saw a lot of poverty and spent long days doing manual labor and teaching English/Jesus to children. After that first trip to Africa it was difficult for me to be satisfied with coming back to ‘doing life’ in my small town of Lutz, Florida.
I also had some unintentional bitterness.. that in America we get concerned with other things and it felt like my ability to hear God was crowded by the sounds of t.v’s and consumerism. And maybe that’s true, but I was also choosing not to have grace with others; I wasn’t recognizing that people couldn’t understand what I’d been through and that there’s a lot of great things my country is actually doing for the Kingdom.
Fast forward to post-Race and it wasn’t easy still, but this time I didn’t return bitter or extremely sad that the life I lived in other countries couldn’t follow me home. Truthfully, I know now that God isn’t calling me to be a full time bushman in a foreign country or to teach English at an orphanage, as much as I enjoyed serving in those elements. No, our plane glided into the runway at O’hare airport a few weeks ago and this time around I wanted to kiss the ground outside.. seriously! I was home. I was happy and more thankful for my country than ever before.
On the Race, I found that within the context of full time ministry, my heart stirs the most and feels the heaviest for the American church. I realized this because I had the opportunity to team lead for 7 months. And of all the 11 ministries in 11 countries I got to serve in, none of them ever topped my favorite of all time.. the one that stayed with me in all eleven countries at each ministry site: my team.
Many of the women on my team found their passions on the World Race.. a lot of their hearts beat for the children at the foster homes such as Sarah’s Covenant Homes in India and Arms of Love in the Philippines [oh, the irony of getting assigned children’s ministries every month]. Their hearts yearned for the girls dancing in the bars in Phuket, Thailand. I found that if ever my heart would fervently beat out on the field, it was often for the woman, my team mate, whose heart was beating for the child or prostitute.
On top of that, I saw how God used my testimony and experience to speak into women’s lives and walk beside them as they threw off old habits and uncovered God’s heart and His next steps for their lives.
Before now, my life was always, “Jeez I could never be an artist! Too competitive and, painting portraits isn’t exactly my strong point.” That was in high school. And about a year ago I thought to myself, “I kinda like this job in social work but, couldn’t love it enough to do it longer than a year.” Haha.
I am thankful for the World Race for so many reasons. But mainly because for the first time, I’ve done something that made me come completely alive. It was one of my first and best confirmations. I was made to do full time ministry. It’s not necessarily something I asked for, and I know people can do ministry wherever they go or work. But I’ve known for a long time now, this is my full time job.
It is God’s call on my life to awaken and inspire and build up believers in the body of Christ. I don’t know exactly what that looks like years down the road.. but I got a glimpse of it this year, being constantly surrounded by women on my squad who love the Lord and seek further freedom and growth in Him. I want freedom and MORE growth for the church!! God is lighting my path as I continue to take steps of faith. I am excited for the open doors that lie ahead to pursue this calling and see Jesus’s church come alive and develop more passion for spreading the kingdom in our country and around the globe.
More to come on that, in upcoming blogs 🙂
