My first month on the race is coming to an end! My sense of time has been so warped here. The moments seem to go super slow, and then all at once they are gone and it’s the end of the first month! It’s definitely taught me to cherish each and every moment.
So, anyways..here I am. End of month one. Sitting in a coffee shop, eating toast with weird green goo on it, trying to sum up these first 30 days on this crazy adventure the Lord has led me on. And honestly, I’m terrified you guys may be disappointed. You see, I would love to sit here and tell you stories about how my days are filled with excitement. About how I come home drenched in sweat and overflowing with amazing stories from ministry. But that would be a lie. I’ll be honest with you, ministry has been slow. My life looks nothing like the instagram photos every World Racer loves to post. And at first that was super frustrating for me. I payed the application fee. I bought the Chacos. I look like the stereotypical “Racer”. Why DOESN’T my life look like those instagram posts? I’ll tell you why: because God loves me way to much to give me what I expect.
God delights in completely destroying our expectations and revealing to us a greater plan. His plan. God’s plan for my first month here in Thailand was totally NOT what I expected. But, it has been 100% what I needed. These first 30 days God has showed me I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of gunk that needs to come out so that He can completely come in and fill every crack and mend every bruise that I have on my heart. He has taught me that loving people well doesn’t look like saying what they want to hear, but having the bravery to say what he’s asking us to tell them. He has taught me that I can’t avoid my issues by focusing on other people’s problems. He has taught me that rest is a command, and that he has no problem keeping me in a hospital to make a point that he’s not kidding around about it (God is so sassy, I love it). He’s showed me that his love isn’t always fireworks, sometimes it’s buying the kind of peanut butter I like (thanks for that Jen 😉 ).
And although this month has been slow and at times frustrating, it has been so sweet. And the Lord has been so good. And I have seen his love demonstrated for me in so many ways. I’ve seen it from the top of a Buddhist temple overlooking the city, while I’m drenched in sweat. I’ve seen it in the faces of the girls at juvenile detention center while I bawled sharing my testimony but smiled when one by one the hands raised to be prayed over. I’ve heard him whisper “I love you” while the children laugh during our Rice Seeds ministry. So no, my life is no instragram post. My journey has looked different than many of those who have raced before me. But oh, how sweet this journey has been.
” You asked, ‘Who’s is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
-Job 42:3
Things to be praying for!:
I’m still about $1,500 short from being fully funded
A complete recovery because being sick is so gross
pray for my team!
pray for our ministry host’s wife
