>>> How the World Race Changed My Life <<<
I think if I want to share with you HOW the World Race changed my life I think I really need to share WHAT the race taught me and how it has impacted me ever since.
There are obviously millions of things I learned over my 11 month travels in 2011-2012, but the top 3 that I can clearly point to that still affect me are these:
• Being thankful can change the atmosphere
• God can do immeasurably more than you can ask or think of
• The church is meant to be united
W SQUAD -Represent!
Being thankful can change the atmosphere – I learned this at training camp. We were told that at some point on the race (and really in life) you will have a “bucket month”. This is just one of those times when things suck. Maybe something annoys you, or you have to do a job you don’t like, or you are upset about something/someone.
The moment you take that little step to thank God for the food you ate, for your toes, for the nice weather, then all of a sudden you are thanking him and praising him for everything! Your heart is lifted and things don’t seem so bad.
The first time I had a fight with my now husband, I told him to leave. He said he didn’t want to leave and wanted to resolve our problem, but didn’t know how. I scornfully yelled at him, “Then we were going to go back and forth saying what we were thankful for until CHANGES THE ATMOSPHERE and I could look at you again so we could talk through this.”
With each thing I said I was thankful for (each with a less scornful sarcasm tone) God was able to prepare a place where the situation turned into glorifying Him and uniting us.
Been fight FOR our marriage since July 2016
God can do immeasurably more than you can ask or think– Oh man… when didn’t I see this on the race?!?! (Seriously, read through my blogs.) I can think of a story from every month that God showed up in huge ways.
One of my favorites was when we were living in Romania in the winter. The place we were staying at cost us most of our monthly budget and it turned out that we had one quarter per person per day for the month for food.We worked it out so that we were only eating big pots of noodles and a whole lot of pancakes.
Then one day while we were at a hospital praying for people a family brought us pounds of meat! It was a feast! They asked us to keep it as a thank you for praying for their family member.
Now, we prayed over people that month and they were healed, people came out of their houses yelling “They’re here!” because they had dreams we would come, and God raised over $15,000 just so I could be there to pray for those things. I know it sounds crazy that I was thankful for a simple gift like meat then, but here’s why:
We didn’t need it, yet God still did it and it was more than we could have even asked.
On the race it just becomes a lifestyle to look for what God is doing, to pray big prayer, and he faithfully shows up. Typically He shows up in ways that are IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN WE COULD ASK OR THINK.
Only a portion of the meat is capture in this picture
The church is meant to be united- As I traveled and met so many Christians around the world. I saw how we were all different, but have the same spirit. We worshiped in different ways, had our own sin struggles, and operated on different amounts of sleep (seriously, my Pastor in Malaysia would drop us off at midnight after doing ministry work, then he would go home, pray for 3 hours, and be back to get us at like 5 a.m. to pray or do physical labor).
We all called upon the name of Jesus while leading others to him and praying for His return. I realized I was a part of a Kingdom that was much bigger than I ever imagine. Someday I am going to be united with all of them in Heaven, our true home, with Jesus.
When the race was over I thought I wouldn’t be able to be a part of the “missions field” like I was overseas. I thought coming back to the states was returning to “typical life” in a way.
I was wrong.
The more time past after the race the more I knew about the needs of this world and the more I pursued doing what I can where God has me now.
In Thailand I worked with women who were being sold for sex. Now, in Madison, Wisconsin I am finding out what I can do locally to reach out to the women who are also being sold for sex, just not as public as in Thailand.
We are meant to BE UNITED AS THE CHURCH to help reach those all around the world. Everyone needs Jesus and anyone can join His mission of reaching the lost, poor, enslaved and hungry.
The man in the middle is our Pastor who taught me so much about endurance (or lack of sleep) for Christ’s Kingdom.
>>> Closing <<<
The World Race did change my life. God used it to show me so many truths about Himself and this life. The next question you might want to ask me though is how many times a month I still talk to my squad-mates even after almost 6 years…. I bet it would surprise you!
