Ok, so I have hit the half-way mark on the race!!! Half of me says, “Oh my goodness… how has time flown by so quickly?!” and the other half says, “Oh my goodness, how will I possibly make it through another 4 and a half months?!” The past 4 and a half months have been some of the most beautiful and rewarding yet most heart-wrenching and testing months I’ve ever lived. I have seen the Lord work in the most difficult of times and I have trusted in him to redeem the times where I didn’t see his redemption with my own eyes. Throughout this past month I have been relying on the Lord to redeem my homesickness, imperfection, lack of motivation, and even my skewed expectations of what I though the World Race would be. He has been teaching me what it looks like to FULLY trust in him.
I apologize for the lack of communication, blogs, photos, updates, etc this month… Usually, I only post blogs whenever I’m excited about something I’ve learned, experienced, or seen but this month has been unusually difficult.
YES, I have learned, experienced, and seen amazing things this month, but it’s so hard to write all of those things out without acknowledging all of the not so easy things I’ve experienced.
NO, this blog will not be a pity party sulking because of how hard my life has been, but it will be a blog telling you about my struggles and then showing you how God has redeemed these situations. The Lord is so good in that there is no situation the He can not redeem and use to bring glory to his kingdom.
Being away during the month of December has been so hard for me. Last week was my birthday and I don’t think there was a moment that day where I wasn’t holding back my tears. I wished I was home and I wished I could spend the day with my family and with my best friend living in Ecuador and my other friends scattered across Texas, but I also knew that this is where the Lord wanted me. Spending my birthday at home would’ve been great, but the Lord had better things for me in the sweltering hot country of Lesotho with the sweetest boys from the youth center we serve at and with my sweet teammates and host, Lineo. That day I got to hang out and mentor some awesome teens and then that night I got to party and then get prayed over by my teammates and my host. (oh and I popped a cork for the first time… am I an adult or what?!)
Christmas is coming up in less than a week and I miss my family more than ever. Christmas in Africa is nothing like Christmas at home. This past week my team has been visiting a local orphanage and my broken heart for missing my family broke even more when I realized how blessed I am to have a family. Today as we hung out with the kids, we continued to sing songs and tell them stories of how much the Lord loves them and how faithful he is. I am more than willing to sacrifice Christmas with my family if that means I get to tell the children around me how much the Lord loves them and how he sacrificed his life to live in relationship with them.
I have been relying in the Lord to overcome my lack of energy in this crazy heat and to work through my lack of desire to do anything other than lay on the living room floor and watch movie upon movie while eating anything I can throw in the freezer. Every day that I have come to God and asked him to fill me up and prepare me to be used for ministry he has! He never fails to not only get me through the heat of the day at ministry, but he never fails to use me when I ask him to.
I could go on and on and tell you all about how the Lord has redeemed my mess, but I want to challenge you to seek His redemption and trust in him to work in mighty ways through all of yours too. There is no circumstance, sin, or mistake too big or too messy to be redeemed and made beautiful by God.
“The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” Psalms 23:1-3
