A welcome shock to most people who haven’t done the World Race is that your space is all taken away.
I remember the moment I realized it so well. We were in Ecuador in month one, and as our team time was about to start, one of my teammates, Kelley, climbed up into my twin sized bed. It didn’t bother me but it was the first time I realized that when I signed up for the World Race, I signed up for losing all of the space that I had previously.
When you sleep in a room that is a little bigger than my childhood bedroom, that has two bunk beds, 5 packs that are about the size of humans, and the girl that is asleep on your floor, you realize that you are no longer the person you were when you left the United States.
You might think that is your bed for the month but I can promise that your teammates or squad mates will use it, and you just might walk into someone asleep on your bed. Or you might spend your morning looking for the shirt that you want to wear that day to find your teammate wearing it instead. That moment is the moment you are reminded that you lost your space.
When you lose your space, you lose the ability to hide yourself. Your team is around you all the time. They know how you sleep, if you like to stay up or go to bed early, how you process your life, and pretty quickly learn about the things you haven’t told anyone. The Race is something that requires you to take your masks off. The Race isn’t pretty all the time. The people you are with 24/7 learn things about you that you didn’t want to tell them.
I remember when the Lord taught me that taking away the space I had previously was what was going to heal my soul. I have spent the last two months realizing that until I let people into my story, I would struggle with the same things I have spend the last few years of my life struggling with. When I let them into the story and the pain of my childhood, I realized that Jesus redeems it. I watched them fight for me in a way that I have felt fought for before. I watched them help me reach my own potential because for the first time in my life, the things that were done in the dark have finally come to light, and in the light there is healing.
It brought new life to the verse in the Word that says “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” James 5:16
There is healing in telling your story. I have had the privilege of sharing my story quite a few times over the last two months, and every time, it gets easier. The pain seems not as fresh.
I challenge you to tell your story, even the parts that are embarrassing or that you haven’t ever told anyone. Tell your best friend, or your teammates. Revelation tells us “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” Revelation12:11.
