Originally I was planning on going on the World Race on a January 2014 route. I was so excited about where God was leading me and impatient to start my next adventure. I went through the application process during my transition to moving back in with my family. I was accepted and then quickly became overwhelmed with all the stuff I needed to do to prepare for my race. I knew God had led me to the World Race, so I scrambled and tried to get everything together, but I felt constantly behind.
The first financial deadline was quickly approaching and I was still trying to send out support letters. I was driving home from work and laid it all out before God.
“Who was it that set the January deadline?”
I know you are leading me to the World Race…
“Yes, but who said January?”
Me and my impatience and pride of not wanting to live with my family for very long. As with this whole season of transition I needed to let go of my will and listen and follow where God was leading.
I looked up at the beautiful autumn trees and was reminded of a devotion I had read a few years ago. Leaves in the fall are in the process of dying. As the temperature gets colder and the daylight hours get shorter, the leaves stop producing chlorophyll, revealing the beautiful red and orange colors. Only when the tree begins to die does it begin to shine the beauty the Creator designed it to. Only when I let go of my plans, dreams and timelines do I sparkle the way God created me to. I let go of my internal clock-which sounds a little more like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, saying that I’m always late for something-and I am waiting on the Lord, for His timing. (That little impatient clock is the source of other discontentment, like wanting to get married and have babies, but I’m learning to be satisfied with what God is giving me in this season and hushing that clock…it’s a process.)
I emailed my mobilizer and asked her if I could go on a later route and I am pleased to announce that I will be going on a July 2014 Route! I will be going to Puerto Rico, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Swaziland, Botswana and South Africa.
I feel a lot more at peace with the timeline and have much more time to prepare. In dying to my timeline of wanting to go in January, I am able to go through this process more beautifully the way God intended it to be. And everywhere I go, I have a beautiful visual reminder in the trees.
