The first week of the race one of my alumni squad leaders gave me a word. “Katy you’ve been sitting in the lap of the Father for your whole life. You have a great relationship with him. However, it’s time for you to get off his lap and walk with the strength he’s given you. It’s time to step into danger and take risk. He has you.”
I knew I was about to go on a journey that would be a battlefield. As I stepped out of his embrace I felt exposed and vulnerable. What was I doing?! I was safe, protected and comfortable in His lap. But I knew what He was calling me to. I knew he asked me to lay down my agenda and follow him into the unknown and uncomfortable. Honestly, my race was looking differently then I imagined. I was a team leader of a team that didn’t respect me, and had extremely different views spiritually. Walls were up and I was prepared to charge them, or was I?
I quickly realized in Cambodia that even though I was stepping into a war zone, God was still holding my hand. He had my back, and wasn’t leaving His partner to fend for herself.
When battles hit, he allowed me to push through some injuries. Through the hardships he taught me to ask Him for assistance and lean on him for support. He sterilized my wounds and wrapped them with protection. However, it began to teach me that he trained me for the battles, to pick myself up. To have confidence in myself that he made me a powerful threat. I could put weight on the injuries and know that they made me stronger. The battles opened doors to authenticity. Fighting for each other allowed us to become family.
As the journey continued we obviously had fun adventures and great times of laughter. We took risk and got in trouble, never second guessing that we supported each other when we road motorcycles up Thai mountains, climbed under waterfalls, jumped off canyon cliffs and rafted the Nile. We seized each opportunity thrown at us. I couldn’t ask for a better adventure buddy.
Don’t even get started on what we ate! Pig intestines, fish eyes, cow tongues, grass hoppers, jelly fish, dog, liver… You name it and we probably ate it and struggled to digest it! When I spent a quarter of the race in the bathroom wondering if my own intestines would make it, He made it humorous. Why not pass out on an air plane bathroom, halfway in the aisle?! He stuck by my side when I was poisoned in Nam at an EDM concert or when my hair was bleached ginger blonde or when my purse was almost ripped out of my hands with a drive by, or when a spider bit my lip and made me look like a bunny… Sorry, but I could go on.
Some of my favorite times were these battles we had. Our most intimate times together, discussing what it meant to trust You first, to be okay with not being perfect, and loving others even when it was extremely hard. You pushed me into the unknown, sure that through harsh yet beautiful environments– my heart was Yours and I needed You. Through this 11 month adventure through mine fields, detours, obstacles, swimming, trudging, sprinting, walking, You taught me to be grounded in You. Now with exhaustion and a peace of a year well lived, I crawl back into your lap for rest. You whisper, “Job well done, daughter. You are exhausted from a year of serving, risk taking, loving endlessly and saying yes. This is a life with me! Isn’t it full?! You are mine and I am yours. Now rest and prepare knowing I have a life time of adventure and battles ahead with you.” As I look down, I see his arms wrapped around my beautiful scarred body, crazy tan lines, and worn out clothes and say, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Jesus. Thank you.”
