I am in Dubno, Ukraine in my last month of the race. It is a hot summer Sunday and my team and I are giving a presentation of our last 10 months to a local church. After we go through each country, explaining our ministries and telling stories to go along with them, we open the floor up for any questions that the congregation might have. This is not our first time doing the presentation, as we have already given it at another church, so we are prepared for one or two questions like last time. Instead, we are asked deep question upon deep question, and it leads us all to some conclusions that we hadn’t yet thought of.
First off, these questions are helping to prepare me for the questions that I will be facing when I get home. “What was your favorite month?” “What was your favorite ministry?” “What country did you feel most home sick in?” The questions go on, and we pass the microphone from one person to the nex,t as we each have different things to say and different experiences to pull from. One gentleman stands up in the back and asks this question: “What is the biggest lesson you learned about yourself on the race?” This leaves me stumped. I have learned so much, and I have experienced countless stories that grew me as a person. But then it hits me. These experiences are things that I never would have dreamed I was capable of doing before the race.
Before embarking on this crazy journey, did I ever think that i would be standing up in front of a church congregation on my birthday and preaching the message? No.
Did I think I would go from bar to bar in the middle of the redlight district in Chiang Mai and spread God’s love to the prostitutes working there? No.
Did I think I would visit a prison in Granada and do crafts and talk about Jesus with the inmates? No.
Did I think that I would teach English as a second language everyday for three weeks without a lesson plan, having to come up with my own ways of teaching? No.
Did I think I would lead a team of women for 6 months? No.
Did I think I was capable of standing up on stage at church and sharing my testimony as so many people stared at me? No.
Did I think I could go 9 days without a shower and carry everything I needed for two weeks on my back? No.
But I did do all these things. I did all these things and more. And as I look back at my 11 months, I see that in my weakness, God was strong. In the times when I did not want to talk in front of people, lead a bible study, share my testimony, recieve hard feedback, wake up earlier than humans should ever be awake, sing worship acapella style in front of a congregation, and everything in between, God came alongside me and gave me the strength I needed. I did not know I was capable of these things, but I also did not know that God was capable of giving me the means to accomplish them. I have freed God from the box that I had put him in for years, and through that, He has freed me from the box I had put myself in for so long.
I guess what I am getting at is this: I will no longer put limits on myself. I am a lot more capable than I give myself credit for. I hit my fair share of bumps this year, but I also was exposed to a brand new side of life, and I will never be the same. So now I challenge you to free God from the box you have Him in, and free yourself from limits you have put on yourself. Because in the end, through Him, we are limitless.
