NOTE: This blog was written by my amazing teammate, Morgan Pratt. It’s like she crawled into my brain and wrote what I’ve been trying to write down but couldn’t find the words for. I have changed some things to pertain more to me. This is posted with her permission!
HOMiEs: anyone I did life with prior to the World Race.
Dear HOMiEs,
There are a few things I need you to know for you to best help me adapt and walk into this new season. So grab on to your britches and let’s be real honest for a minute
1. I am SO thankful for you all. Your encouragement, love and support made these past 11 months possible. If it wasn’t for you guys spurring me on, this journey would have been a lot harder. I know you think what I did was cool and you want to hear all the stories but please listen to me when I say I want to know about your life too. You’ve done 11 months of dates, concerts, holidays, worship nights, family days, etc. that I truly care about. So as I tell you stories please know that I WANT to hear your stories too. They are just as important to me!
2. I’m SO excited to see you all and spend time with you, but as you know, I’ve been around people for the past 11 months constantly. Honestly, my bed, my cats, and one or two people might snag the majority of my attention for the first few weeks. This isn’t because I don’t want to see you all or be with you, this is because I have seen and been through some incredibly hard and dark things (of course, great things as well). I need time alone to process these things (and let’s be honest, ugly cry for a few hours). So please do not take this personally or think I do not want to be with you guys, but also, help me out by making saying “no” to dinner dates, movie nights, coffee outings, etc. a little easier for me. But also invite me, because who doesn’t like to be invited?!
3. I’ve done life hardcore with about 10 people for the past 11 months. I’m going to talk about how incredible they are like all the time, but you need to know they also know how incredible you are too! Seriously, I talk about you guys all the time. My heart explodes at the amount of people I get to share and do life with!
4. I cry. Like all the time. (Which I know happened before the race, but it’s even more right now). The littlest things trigger memories, heart breaks, and thoughts. Don’t be alarmed. You said nothing wrong. This is all just a part of it.
5. I might ask hard and uncomfortable questions. The Lord has really taught me how to take ownership of my spiritual gifts and use them to bring people closer to Him. Please know when I ask hard questions it’s because I care a whole lot more about your heart and your eternity than I do about your present comfort. Don’t shy away from thought provoking and hard conversations. Over the past 11 months I have seen so much growth come from the hard questions and I wan’t to continue to see that throughout the rest of my life and in your lives too.
6. You have every right to keep me accountable and call me higher. I NEED accountability. I NEED people who have similar convictions to spur me on daily. But also, please love me through my mistakes. I will never be perfect and still struggle with some of the things I left home struggling with, so please please please call me out in love and call me higher. I want to be as much like Jesus as possible and if you see something about me that I don’t see, point it out. Those are called blind spots and we all have them. Help a sister out, im all about growing into the best version of Mariah that I can be!
7. Last and most importantly, I am still Mariah. I might use a lot of different words like “process, norms, ATL, feedback, call me higher, etc.,” but I’m still Mariah. I have changed and a lot of my interests have shifted, but I’m still me. I’ve spent 11 months not only loving other people, but learning how to love and be myself. So if you feel like you’re getting to know someone all over again, that’s okay, I had to do it too. I can confidently say who I am now is who I was created to be: a woman whose identity is in Christ and who loves the Lord and is constantly trying to grow to love and be more like Him.
Let’s be patient with each other and let’s extend an enormous amount of grace to each other!
IM SO EXCITED TO HUG EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR NECKS IN ONLY 15 SHORT DAYS! <3
So here’s to us and lasting friendships!
I can’t wait to grow and go deeper with each one of you. I love you all!
