One of the most life changing aspects of the World Race is the community style living that will be a part of my journey over the next year and a half. I have the privilege of getting to know my teammates, and already love them, but I realized something earlier this week.
I stopped to get a snocone (which I love and one of the things that I will miss on the race!) and had a conversation with another lady that changed my perspective. I walked up and this lady was talking with the girls who were working at the sno-cone stand. I often make conversation with people, so we got to talking and the lady said something that changed my perspective in a way I wasn’t really anticipating. Her words were “These girls are the only people I talk to out side of my kids and husband; I come by every single day, put in a movie for my kids, and talk with them for an hour.” I wish I could tell you that I had a response that would have put some amazing though into her mind, but my response was just “Oh, okay.”
But a conversation that lasted all of three minutes has had a lasting impact on me in a way that I can’t begin to put into words. Over and over again, I have listened to the conversation over and over again.
I can call my best friend at any time and she answers the phone with a word of encouragement, a virtual slap in the face, or a challenge as to how I can handle a situation better than I did. Living with my friends over the last year challenges me every single day to live out my faith, to handle situations better, to pray more, to take matters at hand to God before exploding about something, and I could continue to tell you but I will save you for length.
We need other people. We need people who tell us more about ourselves than we can see from the inside. I’m looking forward to that on the race, but I also know that it is going to challenge me in ways that I don’t know yet. I need the people who challenge me to be better, call me out when I mess up, and encourage me along the way.
This life is a beautiful journey, with hard days, hard months and hard seasons. But as a quote I’ve heard says, It is the rain that makes us appreciate the sunshine. There will be hard days on the race: days I want to go home, days I want to hug the one who loves me, days that I’m tired, and days I just want a Diet Dr. Pepper and chick-fil-a. But more than that, there will be so many days that I can’t believe I get to do what we are doing that day, days that have sites will literally take my breath away, and people that I can promise you will bring me to tears because I’m not saying goodbye to some people for a year, but for many, because we will only meet again on the other side of eternity, face to face with our Jesus. What a beautiful reunion heaven will be.
Til Slavery Ends,
Kristyn.
I apologize for the lack of blogging. I’ve got quite a bit going on with school, so I am trying mostly to keep my head above water. 🙂 There are some more that I plan on working on in the coming days, promise.
