Coming home seemed so overwhelming. So much time, so many stories, and not enough words.
How do I begin to explain these past nine months? How do I tell you about some of the most life changing nine months of life? How do I even begin to put into words all the emotions and all the things I’ve seen?
~ I’ve seen some of poorest parts of the world.
~ I’ve seen brokenness in its fullness
~ I’ve prayed for miracles to happen.
~ I’ve watched the Lord heal people.
~ I’ve been in one of the spiritually darkest places in the world and have seen spiritual warfare in a way that most people in America will never see or even believe exists.
~ I’ve made incredible friends and had to say hard goodbyes knowing I may never see those friends again.
~ I’ve experienced such a sweet community. Especially at the end of the Race. I was surrounded by a group of five women that encouraged me, pushed me, challenged me, and let me be so broken and honest with them.
The Race has been my life. How would you describe your life? Mine to put it simply has been 9 months of packing, unpacking, moving, staying, loving, and repeating. So when asked how my trip was, all I can say is… It was life changing and it was my life. It was everything. I wish I could tell you about every moment Jesus showed up and every hard day and every time I grew.
In reality though, I’ll never be able to tell you everything. I wish I could, but I can’t.
There are moments from the Race that changed me. I’ll never be able to fully explain how incredible my hosts were in Costa Rica. Or how rewarding all our manual labor on the school in Nicaragua was. Or the hard days of Africa. Or the heavy presence of the Holy Spirit when Sohon (a paralyzed 9 year old) stood up and walked for the first time in his life. Or the heavy spiritual darkness and constant battle in Nepal. Or the moment in the Philippines when Jesus whispered to me, “for such a time as this, Emily”. And every single hard day of the Philippines, every battle with depression, every suicidial thought in the past made sense to me.
I’ll try to explain each moment. I really will. But lets start with this.
The Race changed me. It made me appreciate America. It made me realize just how much I have and how much I actually NEED. The Race broke me and each country, each month, each day, was building me into the person that Christ wants me to be. The Race strips you of all your comforts and makes you completely reliant on Christ. I have a passion for Christ and a joy that I don’t have any explanation for. The only thing I can say is, “Jesus”. And the only thing is, “thank you’. Thank you to my supporters. To my friends. To my prayer warriors. To those who donated. This trip changed my life. Gave me a passion and Lord told me in dream what he has for me (new video coming soon all about this! SUPER EXCITED to share this with you.)
So thank you. And I can’t wait to share all my stories with you and tell you about all the things the Lord is doing all over the globe, I’ll just need more then 5 minutes.
