Wow. My first official post for my Race.
Can I just say that as I sit here on May 3rd, 2014, not one bit of what is before me has actually sunk in. Every time someone asks me how I feel about such an incredible opportunity, I tell them that I’m still processing everything. It doesn’t feel real. All my life I feel like I have become super good at going through phases and seasons of passions and goals and however good my intentions are, some of them seem to fade out. I felt like this my first year in Ukraine. I spent a year convincing everyone around me (including complete strangers on the bus) that I was going to Ukraine on a mission trip…and yet, I didn’t even believe it myself until I stepped off the plane in Kiev and was assaulted by the humidity and foreign advertising signs all around me. Hearing the chatter of Russian and Ukrainian instead of English as the background noise, seeing an underdeveloped country, people wearing things from different eras (and still pulling it off as runway fashionable), and even eating the amazing food for the first time all felt like a whirlwind. I found myself shocked that I was actually there.
How stupid.
A year of fundraising, preparing, fasting, praying, talking, presenting, and “processing” and I still was shocked that I was actually there. What little faith we have in the God we serve, even when we draw to our knees, beg Him to complete His will in our lives! We become shocked when He answers our prayers, we get wide eyed when His provision overshadows our doubt. Then we seem to have no problem singing the praises of His glory and work in our lives, but only after we have demanded some sort of proof from God.
Going into the World Race, I still feel like this a little bit. You know, doubtful, unsure…almost like it’s an incredible fantasy that I have sure gotten good at talking up to everyone, and yet there is a seed of “this isn’t really going to happen” that sits in the back of my mind.
Talking with one of my new friends, a World Race alum, she mentioned how feeling like this is actually sort of a blessing. I realized my perspective has been off. It’s not that I should be looking at it like I’m already failing God, or that I’m listening to doubts, it’s that God has given me quite a bit of time before I actually launch and this is a gift. It’s a gift because it is a lesson in not forfeiting the present. It’s a blessing because it is a season of preparation. It’s a gift because I have the mindset to enjoy and cherish what is right in front of me right now. If I felt completely prepared and hyper focused on the launch date, I would be ignoring and throwing away 9 months of preparation, lessons, gifts, trials, friendships, time with my family, small moments of blessings, daily routines, and mental sanity all for the sake of something that God has not given me domain over yet.
The perspective we should take as followers of Christ is one of the present moment. Ecclesiates talks about how the Lord has given us seasons. Each season is meant to be lived in and cherished. Instead of constantly craving the next one, we were only given the present. We have no authority or control over more than the present moment we are breathing in now. Are you going to forfeit it because it’s not the one you want? Guess what, God is using it to your good and even more importantly, to His glory…don’t throw it away because it wasn’t in your schedule.
Because of Him,
Rachel
P.S. Here’s the link to a goofy movie my friends and I put together to promo the Race! Laugh it up! Share it! Donate! Pray over our team, the people who have yet to apply, and the people we will encounter.
