35 days until we reach home.
286 days since we left home.
One country.
One month.
Endless thoughts, emotions, and beautiful memories packed away.
Zero words left.
I have absolutely nothing left to say at this point… At least that’s how I feel.
We left Romania three days ago, and it feels like we’ve been gone for weeks. If our squad leaders had given us the option, my team would have probably stayed in Romania for our last month of
the Race because we loved it so much. (For real, if you have no clue what to do with your life right now and want to get away from home for a while, go to Romania. I’ll hook you up with a fantastic contact. I am 100
% serious.) But not only did we have to leave, we knew we had to. We knew that this month was going to be something special, even if we didn’t know how. So we got on a train for 27 hours.
Heartbroken.
Homesick (not for North America).
Hopeful.
Because a lot of times on the Race when you’re leaving people and a place you fell madly in love with, all you have to lean on is hope in the Lord.
Let’s take a second and review how amazing my team is.
Leslie can make me laugh at the silliest, smallest thing and instantly make my day better.
Janell can give me the most wonderful encouragement with only a few simple words.
Carmen can check my bad attitude in such a gracious and loving way that I feel humbled, challenged, and loved all at once.
So as we’re sitting in our bunks in the train (baller train by the way, can you say “God’s favor”? we can, mostly because we have it so often hehehe!) all feeling quite broken about saying yet another goodbye to a beautiful month of ministry and a beautiful group of people, my team has the strengt
h and love to do more than just let me sulk. The three amazing women I have been blessed to share these past few months with share their hearts, their laughter, and their stories. Then later that night we prophesied over each other before going to bed. When we woke up the next morning, we designated a time to pray out Romania and pray in Ukraine. Um, I wouldn’t have done that a year ago if I was plopped in the same situation. I definitely would not have thought I could leave somewhere I loved with hope in my heart, or spent my time to prophecy over people, or used the morning hours to pray over countries I barely know…Seriously.
Dudes, who are we?
What kind of crazy, bizarre people have we become in the past 286 days?
I’ll tell you who we are and what we’ve become.
We have become people who have had their values re-ordered, so that it matters that we are more spiritually rich than we are monetarily rich.
We have become people who understand what it means to be blessed – that the greatest blessing of all is a sweet little four letter word that starts with ‘l’ (and is synonymous with adventure).
We have become people who dream dreams, people who know that our dreams have power, people who believe that our dreams will become reality.
We have become people who recognize that it is a more precious gift to pray and prophecy over someone than it is to leave them with a material gift.
We have become people who aren’t afraid to speak life and prophecy over one another.
We have become people who see our testimonies as beautiful truths written by a King we know by name, people who know that our testimonies have endless power on this earth.
We have become people who embrace Holy Spirit, not a people who are wary of Him.
We have become people who know that God will answer when we pray
…and we are still people who stand in awe of His love and might when we see o
ur prayers answered.
We have become people who’s first response is to pray, even if it’s something ‘small’, even if it’s something ‘huge’.
We have become people ruined for ordinary life.
We have become people who are fulfilled but never left satisfied – people who constantly want more and more and more of one thing.
(That one thing is God, just in case you’re wondering (; )
And the beautiful thing about the people we have become is this: that it isn’t anything we have done ourselves. The change that has taken place in us wasn’t because we were brave, selfless, and left our homes for 11 months. It wasn’t because we had the skills or the know-how to live in 11 foreign countries. It was because we heard a call, the call.
The call to be more than what we think we can be. The call to live for something more than a good job, a nice house, and a cute family.
The call to be obedient.
Sometimes that call means you have to leave the home you’ve known for your whole life.
And other times that call means you have to leave the home you’ve known for one month.
Either way, you have to pretty brave or pretty stupid to say “No” when you hear the call.
So. Here I am with 35 days of my Race left, ready to empty myself once again, ready to lay myself before Jesus’ throne and say, “Take me”, knowing that He will take me no matter what state I am in. God’s challenged me a lot this year, and I am expectantly waiting to see what challenges He’ll give to me this month. Here’s my challenge to you: ask God what His challenges are for you this month, what He specifically wants to refine in you, and how He wants do see you draw nearer to Him.
Why?
Because that list of what and who we have become isn’t just about my squad and I, it’s about you too, even if you don’t know it yet.
