Well, I guess this story all started about 8 months ago in Malaysia. For the last 8 months (my entire race), I have told God and everyone else that I would never be a Team Leader.
I hear God laughs when you tell Him your plans…
Over the last 8 months, I have watched God use different people and circumstances to break/remake me. It's been a wild journey, filled with changes and challenges. It hasn't been easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it has been exactly what I needed.
The last week in Kenya, Natalie (my team leader) left for a parent vision trip and put me in charge of the team. I wasn't exactly thrilled, but God told her to…So, there I was! Throughout that week I learned what it was like to communicate with the ministry host, check in with my team members, and make the hard decisions. I had such a sense of accomplishment when that week was over. No one died, everyone made it to Nairobi okay, and we all had a blast. Mission accomplished!
The other thing I realized throughout that week was just how much God has changed me. I used to step back and let other people make decisions, because I figured they would know better than me. I used to keep quiet and not call people up into greatness, because I thought they would get upset with me. I used to think I wasn't good enough, because that's what I thought other people thought about me.
Somehow, over these last 8 months, God has completely shifted those thoughts. I am now a confident, bold, and worthy woman of Christ. I know the decisions that I make are good, because they are what the Spirit tells me to do. I know the words I speak are edifying, because they are from my God. I know that I am more than enough, because that's what the Creator of the universe tells me I am. Not to say that I never mess up, but I always have those truths to fall back on.
>>>>>>Fast Forward to the 2'nd to last day of Month 8 Debrief >>>>>>
Emily Zimmerman, Natalie, and myself were sitting at a coffee shop in Nairobi. We were enjoying java, Jesus, and good wifi signals. When Emily chirped up and said, “Morgan, I think you would be an amazing team leader. I don't know how it would happen, but I am going to pray for it.”
See, something you should know about Emily is that she is a powerful prayer warrior. I should have seen it coming when she said that…
All day, Emily kept speaking leadership over me and I kept brushing her off. However, every time she would say something, God would tug on my heart a little bit. With only 3 months left in the race, I figured it wasn't going to happen. I thought maybe God was using her words to prepare me for the next season, after the race, and that she was just confused.
However, with all that heart-tugging business, I decided to take it to the Lord. So, at a coffee shop in Nairobi, Kenya, I swallowed my words from the last 8 months. I told God that if He puts me in a leadership position that I would give Him everything I had and that I would find my strength in Him.
After that, we headed back to Debrief at Karen Camp. When I got there, I heard that one of the squad leaders, Tommy, had been looking for me. Then God said, “This is it, Morgan.”I looked for Tommy and couldn't find him, so I just shrugged it off.
Then, I heard another squad leader, Alicia, shouting my name. When I made eye-contact with her, she made her little squinty-eyes with a big smile face.(Side Note: Alicia is cuter than a baby sheep!) Then God said, “This is it, Morgan.”
We walked into a room full of my squad leaders and coaches. Then God said, “This is it, Morgan.” and I said, “Okay.” I burst into an overwhelmed fit of awkward breathing patterns and giggles. Then, my squad dad (Steve) said, “Morgan, you will be finishing the last 3 months of your race as a Team Leader."
Then God said, “I told you so.”
I can't help but laugh every time I think about how God set all of that up. He knew exactly what to do to break down my stubbornness and change my heart. So, in that moment when I was asked to team lead, there was no doubt in my mind that God hadn't called me to do this.
He's been setting me up to team lead for the past 8 months of my world race. He was setting me up when He told Natalie to put me in charge of the team, for the last week of our ministry in Kenya. He set me up when He had Emily and Natalie speak leadership over me in a coffee shop. He set me up when He told all of my squad leaders that I was supposed to lead a team. He set me up!
He called me up, He raised me up, and then He set me up.
I am so humbled that God called me into leadership. I know it's something that I can only do through Him. It's so beautiful to see the Lord Almighty choose to use us. He desires to partner with us! He doesn't need us, but he longs to take us to places we never thought we would go, to do things that we never thought we could do.
Thank you, Abba, for always desiring more for us than we desire for ourselves, and for never letting this wonderful journey with You be boring or stagnant.
Meet My New Team:
The Women!
From Right:
Emily,
Ashley,
Sarah,
and Me!
The Men!
Graham
& Noah! ..
