Leaving for the World Race meant abandoning my family, my friends, my comforts and my home to where God called me. With my abandonment came worry and suffering. I worried how my absence would effect my loved ones. I worried if people would be the same when I got back and about the change I would miss seeing. I worried about my future next year after the race and I worried I wouldn’t be able to sacrifice my comforts easily for a life of obeying our Creator. Then as my team and I were digging into 1 Peter for our Bible study, Jesus gave me a ‘download.’
“Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7
I realized my worry is pride. Can you imagine telling someone you love, “I don’t worry about you because I’m entrusting you to God.” Wow. God has promised to care about me for a lifetime; yet all I have to do is sacrifice my worries? Just let that sink in. God revealed to me that I need to humble myself in His Presence and He will set me free of this heaviness on my heart. My relationship with God has become all the more intimate because of the powerful trust I have with Him now. I trust and believe that everything I have to sacrifice or suffer for Him in this lifetime is worth what He has to offer me. 1 Peter talks about as a believer I will suffer for Christ, fulfilling my purpose not by living for my own pleasures but for the will of God and for His glory. Just a little glimpse of what God is teaching me while here in Guate! What worries do you need to leave at the foot of the cross?
Just a small update: my squad will heading out of Guatemala in a couple weeks (sad face) and off to The Land of Thai. We are excited for the change but going to miss several things from Guatemala. In the last couple weeks here we are finishing up the soccer tournament we helped organize, volunteering at a hospital with Cerebral Palsy patients, spending time with the elderly at a retirement home and continuing to build relationships with the locals around us. Please pray for an easy transition and peaceful hearts as we leave behind our home and friends from the last three months.
