Featured Racer Jenifer Jones of F squad has lived a life full of challenge and heartache. She felt as though these tragedies robbed her of a childhood and her dream of being a missionary was out of reach. But God uses difficult circumstances to show his power and mercy.
As Jenifer prepared to leave for the Race, she studied the book of Ruth and was challenged as Ruth took off her mourning clothes and moved on with her life. Jenifer heard God speak through Ruth’s story and took off her own mourning clothes and moved around the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Little did she know she would be used in magnificent ways.
In the middle of the heat and hustle of India, three little girls sat weeping in a corner, mourning the death of their father. No one else in their village had dealt with such a tragedy, they didn’t know what to say or do. But Jenifer simply sat with the girls, weeping and holding them. She said nothing. Her presence brought peace and comfort and God held his four hurting daughters in that moment.
In Latvia, month ten, she and her team noticed a woman struggling to get down the street. Jenifer started talking with a woman who had just learned of her daughter’s tragic death. Love and compassion poured from Jenifer as she held this woman in her arms speaking hope and life over her.
When a new friend underwent surgery in a Nepali government hospital, Jenifer was there. For hours, she and her teammate waited with their friend in a room with bloodstained floors and chipping paint, where hurting people stuck in horrible conditions. Despite the desperate circumstances, joy overwhelmed her as she brought comfort to a woman facing the same pain she once faced.
Visiting a home in Uganda, she met a young man battling cancer. She told her story with boldness and hope, imparting the same hope into him. She left the house with an overwhelming thankfulness that her past had come full circle. The Lord had not wasted her past hurt, and she understood her struggles to be worth it.
As time went on, God showed more and more of his redemption to her.
Jenifer thought her college experience had been robbed from her because of cancer — she never had a group of close friends to share life with her. But on the Race, Jenifer joined her team eating popcorn, watching movies, laughing, and joking. Joy filled her heart remembering and releasing her expectations of college.
Jenifer has been given a fierce testimony, and her pain has not been in vain
- She is a woman who can comfort others because she herself knows what it is to mourn.
- A woman who can spend the night with a new friend in a wretched government hospital because she herself knows what it’s like to be sick.
- A woman who talks about cancer but also about the Healer.
- A woman who can talk about loneliness but also the One who never leaves and never forsakes.
- A woman who is able to preach about God’s faithfulness because she’s seen it throughout her life, even in the rough parts.
- A woman who, for every story of mourning, has a story of the One who comforts.
Jenifer lives the transforming power of God. Before the Race, she assumed her past prevented her from pursuing her dream of missions. But instead, God made her an international missionary to connect with new friends who struggled with similar heartaches.
He makes all things new. What is holding you back?
