It’s Month 9 on the Race right now and many are struggling with the pull of wanting to be home and the fight to stay present. We are in the Caribbean right now, in our own continent-home is so close we can taste the familiarity of our friends, family and our comforts.
There have been moments where I have been exhausted and daydreamed of what it will like to finally be home. There was one moment in particular on our plane ride to our layover in the states that I felt like I was just going to stay with my parents because I was getting sick for the first part of the flight. However, I can’t let those moments steal away the purpose and the reason why the Lord sent me on the World Race.
For the past week and a half, the Lord has been encouraging me to not lose my wonder of the journey He has me on and to encourage others to regain the same wonder they had in the beginning. He has been encouraging me, just like that Bethel song recites, to never lose my wonder.
In the past 8 1/2 months I have been to ten different countries.
India
Nepal
Cambodia
Thailand
Malaysia
Singapore
Botswana
South Africa
Swaziland
The Dominican Republic
I have been to three different continents.
Asia
Africa
North America
I have seen people of many tongues all around the world praising the Lord.
The Lord has impacted me through the love and literal child-like faith of the kids I have had the blessing to meet.
I have seen the Lord working mighty through people who have made a life-long commitment to overseas missions.
Demons have cried out through a man because he knew a friend and I are Christians and that there are angels walking among us and screamed at us to leave.
I’ve seen amazing growth in my team mates and in myself, thanks to the Lord.
I have ridden on top of an Elephant and went bamboo rafting in the rainforest of Thailand.
I witnessed my team mate ,Michelle, meet the man who brought her father to the Lord, because we were placed at his ministry site in Malaysia.
I’ve witnessed heroes of faith in every country, bringing the hope and love of the Lord.
My team was blessed with the opportunity to help rebuild a church in Nepal that was destroyed after the earthquake.
I’ve lived on top of a mountain in the Dominican Jungle.
I could list so many more and I’m sure there are things that I don’t even remember. How can I lose my wonder over a God that has allowed my eyes see so much beauty in His people and the world He created?
More importantly…how can I lose my wonder over the fact that Jesus, God wrapped in flesh, came and lived the perfect life, died my deserved death to defeat my sins, and was raised to life again to make me new? How can anyone lose their wonder over Jesus?
Life can grow mundane…life can become normal….life can become overwhelming…life can become distracting.
Don’t allow life steal the wonder of God in your life.
You don’t have to travel around the world to see the every day wonders He places around you and to see the miracles He has performed in your own life since you have encountered Him!
As I sit on a porch surrounded by the Lord’s beauty and my squad mates here in the Dominican Republic, I don’t want my wonder to be lost. I want to desire to be right here, where God has called me. I want to be present for the last two countries on the Race and I desire for my squad mates to do the same.
Please pray that the Lord fills my squad with His wonder and a fresh flame.
I love and miss you all!
Sincerely,
Meraia
Here’s the song Wonder by Bethel:
