Growth has been a word I have hated and loved while on the race. My journey with growth started at training camp and has continued throughout my race.
Today, I got to spend some time with a world race team whose first month is almost over. It was incredible to be able to share all of the goodness God has shown me on my race and be encouraged by the wonder and excitement these women exuded.
At the end of the first month on the field, each squad has their first debrief. A debrief is just that, a time to talk about all the things that have gone on during the first month and the things to look ahead to.
Our month 1 debrief was in Baños, Ecuador, where a team from R squad was in their 8th month of the race. It was such a beautiful time for me to be able to spend with some of the ladies on that team and ask them all of my questions and talk about the work God was beginning in me. I received encouragement, love, and advice from them.
I look back on that moment and still cannot express the gratitude I have towards those ladies for spending time with me and pointing me back to God. It meant so much to me and because of this, I wanted to have a chance to do the same for new racers. Jesus says in Matthew 10 at the end of verse 8 “Freely you received, freely give.”
I shared my story with new strangers that soon became good friends and family. I answered questions and spent a good bit of time reflecting on my race as I answered. One of the ladies I met was named Kara and she was like a long lost sister I had never met, but immediately clicked with. We realized our stories have a lot of similarities and that we could understand each other on a deeper level.
Kara told me that she saw Christ in me as I talked and that I had given her hope by sharing what God had taught me and speaking about the sin in my past and the redemption I had found. I was in awe when she told me I gave her hope. It was like God telling me “well done good and faithful servant.” I had listened to God’s calling and did what He told me, which was “Freely you received, freely give.”
I wanted to give everything away that God had shown and grew me through to these beautiful women. I shared with them how the growth process sometimes sucks, but as long as you don’t give up then you’ll see the fruits of your labors on the other side.
I remember month 2, when I told God that if He keeps growing me like He was in month 1 and 2 that I wasn’t going to make it to month 11, but in month 5, I couldn’t see myself growing and I cried out to God that I wanted to grow. This is a testament to the goodness of our God because even when all I could see was how hard it would be, God saw how beautiful the end result would be.
God has given me an opportunity to share with others the amazing things that He has done in my life on this journey. Jesus called us to give freely what we have freely received. We, the sons and daughters of Christ, are here on Earth to show the love and redemption we receive every day from our heavenly Father and to share the stories we have to encourage one another.
God has done so much work in me. I have a story of redemption, grace and love beyond all measure. God has been growing me since day one and I know there is still so much more to come. I am excited to grow and to continue working towards looking more and more like Jesus.
