As I complete month 3 of the race, I can't help but to reflect upon my time here. I have compiled a list of 3 major things I wish I had known before entering the race. Each piece of advice is in honor of a month completed on the race. I hope that you are able to learn from my mistakes and enjoy this experience with me!
3 things I wish I had known before coming on the race–Part 1 and 2
1. Die to yourself.
now.
This is hard.
Really hard.
I thought I had this nailed, and then I went on the World Race.
We live in society that revolves around satisfying ourselves. Without realizing it, most of us live in the mindset of doing whatever we can do to take care of ourselves without realizing the importance of preferring those around us.
There will come a time when you have to get over the fact that you get car sick and squeeze into the back of a van with 7 other squad mates in the blistering heat in order to prevent your teammate who gets more car sick than you from being miserable, share the first Dr. Pepper you have found in 3 months with your whole team, or even decide to take the crepe with the smaller amount of Nutella in it when all you have been craving all day is some form of chocolate.
The struggle is real, but there is so much freedom once you give up the mentality of serving only yourself.
Allow yourself to receive joy from this.
Doing this with a frustrated or selfish heart just puts you more in a tizzy. Trust me, I know from experience.
2. Trust in where God has placed you.
God is always right, right?
Real talk.
Sometimes it may be easy to question why you are on a certain squad or even your own team. The enemy will feed you that nasty lie that you do not belong.
Do not, do not, do not believe that lie.
First of all, you do belong.
Think of it like this:
Last Christmas break, my mom spent a majority her time on completing a 1000 piece puzzle(My stomach twists just thinking of completing a task like this). As she diligently worked over this stupid puzzle, I laughed at her and told her that she was wasting her time. Like legit. This dumb thing took her a whole week.
She wasn't just consumed, she was past the point of return, fully and completely engulfed in this thing.
At the end of the week she finally placed the last piece, or so she thought, of the puzzle. As I begin to look at the beautiful picture the puzzle created, I realized that something was off.
Once piece was missing.
Whoop there it is.
Just one piece was missing, and yet the whole entire puzzle lost it's beauty because of the missing space.
There was a void, and it couldn't be ignored.
The missing piece was unavoidable.
My mom's face had disappointment written all over it. The week of work that she had poured into this puzzle seemed almost meaningless.
By the grace of God, the puzzle piece was found! My mom lit up with joy and gently placed the piece exactly where it belonged.
The puzzle was finally complete and my mom was at peace with her work.
You may not be able to see the full picture at first, but God's plan for you is always perfect, and the end result is a masterpiece. Though we may laugh or doubt the works that He is doing in our lives, God continues to work within us.
Don't be the missing puzzle piece.
Remember, this is not your race, so things may end up looking way different than you had originally planned.
God calls us to each place for a reason. You have to let go of your own plans and dive into the freedom God provides when you simply give it all to him.
At first you may be unsure of the squad or team you have been placed on, or you may have even been called to lead in ways you never expected. Give that uncertainty to God.
Legit.
The enemy wants you to hold on to those insecurities like Gollum holds on to that dang ring. And we all know how well that worked out for Gollum. Don't let the enemy steal the joy of the uncertainty of the race. Give it to God, trust in the fact that you ARE supposed to be here, and just let it go.
Done son.
