A little about me: Laine Armour
I journeyed on the World Race back in September of 2012 after a year of total transformation. I left a relationship and walked into one that radically changed the course of my life.
Ya see, I grew up in the church, became a christian at age 4, and don’t really have a clue what it’s like to not know at least some inkling of Truth. I have never been “burned” by the church, or have been angry with God yet I still walked away… Not from Truth but from Jesus. I walked away from relationship, freedom, and grace because I had no clue the depths of His love for me. I hadn’t quite comprehended that it truly didn’t matter my choices, actions, or horrible thoughts. Jesus still went to the cross… for me, for MY sins because He did it before I sinned. There’s nothing I can do that will make Him love me any more or any less than He already does.
I learned what it meant to be dead, living in shame for making bad decisions that didn’t line up with who I am, who He created me to be. Listening to the lies of the evil one more than my own Father. However this knowledge of death propelled me to want to live fully alive WITH Jesus, alongside Him, everyday choosing to give my thoughts, actions, decisions to Him as a living sacrifice since He died so that I could live. I didn’t want to be another complacent christian who lives life being morally good and thinks that’s all our King has for us. Because Jesus came preaching Kingdom, heaven is just included in that. He has a life of abundance, full of adventure waiting for each of us to claim our inheritance. A word I didn’t know much about leaving for the race 2 years ago…
two weeks into my race I received a call that my mother had suddenly and unexpectedly gone to sleep to never wake on this earth again. After going home for a month in utter shock, I returned to the race and the Lord taught me how we are eternal beings now, not just after we die. That He calls us all to come behind the veil and meet with Him face-to-face. To claim victory together as His bride in a war already won when Jesus went to the pit of Hell and bruised His heel. Dang! So much of us hangout in the wilderness thinking heaven is our prize, I know because I’ve been there. Something I forgot frequently was that our Father’s intention was never for us to wander around for 40 years in the desert. He wants us to trust Him, to trust His word, to trust His promises, to trust that He is always good. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up singing that 90s worship song “Father Knows Best” that that has been a concept easy for me to grasp, but I thank Him everyday for that revelation as a young child. That no matter the circumstance you encounter, the pain you endure, or how much is unknown around the corner He is a good papa, who only wants the best for His children.
It wasn’t until after the race attending a discipleship training and leadership academy in Spain called G42 that I realized my relationship with my God had been solely Father-daughter. Like a tiny kid running to grab her father’s leg for comfort, knowing his voice, his hands, that he represents safety and protection, that he will provide everything you need, that he is trustworthy, and powerful but when you look up he’s too tall to see into his face.
This entire past year I’ve spent ruminating what is my life’s calling and God’s will for my life…what am I going to DO??? Waiting on a vision with all the answers and all He said to me was “Seek my Face Laine, Seek MY FACE.” It took me almost the entirety of the 6 months to realize what He was saying. So much of my life I had come to Him with what I thought was pure motives, but many times I came to Him with a question. What are your plans for me? What are my giftings? Who am I? What is my calling? and I finally realized I was coming to Him staring at His hands thinking what He was holding out for me was more important than just being in His presence looking Him in the eye and spending time with Him. His greatest gift is Himself and there’s nothing that can stand in the way of that relationship yet I have been satisfied with taking a little morsel of Truth from His hands and feasting on it for months. I can only imagine Him laughing as He watched me do this over and over again, thinking Child look up! I don’t withhold myself from you, I’m here waiting my hands yes are full but my arms are also wide open waiting to embrace you… so that we can go hangout and do this life together.
That’s where I’m at, I realized it really doesn’t matter what we do. It’s all about that one relationship, a love affair. That when we finally come to the place where we can look into His face and say, “ok..”, He says, “ok! I trust you, what do you want to do? Let’s go do it together my Bride.” So I said I want to love His people and share with them the few things I’ve learned about Jesus thus far in my walk. So I decided to go back on the Race leading 37 other young people who are hungry to look into their savior’s face and love them through this journey of learning how to be the gospel and love His people as Christ loves us.
