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Chom Reab Sour! (‘Hello’ in Khmer!)
 
This past debrief, the squad leaders announced new teams. My NEW team is an all-female team, which I hadn’t been expecting but for which God has definitely been preparing me. It seems that the more I live life with these sisters, the more I realize how sovereign God is and how perfectly He really had planned it all. This fresh start is just what I needed, and though the transition wasn’t the easiest, it was definitely worth it.
 
Our team and one other team are now living in a small Cambodian village, teaching English, sharing Jesus, and living life with the locals. I’m seriously falling in love with this place and these people. After a personally rough month in Malaysia, probably the toughest one on the Race so far, God has blessed me so abundantly with this new team and experience. I love the simple village life, and I love being unplugged (we drove 2 hours into Phnom Penh for internet today). I love our 7am runs across the endless fields and the beautiful children who come running and laughing shamelessly into my arms.
 
What a perfect setting for new beginnings. In many ways, I feel like my Race has just begun. Part of me wishes I still had 11 months ahead with my current head and heart, but the better part of me knows that the first 6 months were not at all a waste. They wouldn’t have happened had I not been in the exact circumstances God put me in. I’m just grateful now that I have almost 5 more months of growth and new freedom to bask in! 

Something very symbolic of the new start is that I was never a runner before, but I just started running because I felt God nudging me to start this month. I was skeptical about my abilities, but I knew it couldn’t hurt to try. And with each 7am run, God surprises me and it feels great! My stamina is not my own, but His.
 
Random but not-so-random fact: I bought a study Bible in Malaysia while we were at debrief in Kuala Lumpur! I hadn’t planned on it, but when we visited a small, somewhat hidden Christian bookstore, I just felt a strong urge to buy one. I’d never owned a study Bible, and while it meant more weight to carry around the world, I knew that it would be worth it. So I bought a Fire Bible!! And so far, I’m loving it. It’s not just for me, either. All my teammates now have access to this resource, and it has already proven to be very useful. We used it to decide on our new team’s name!
 
Shari came up with ‘Zion’ and asked me what I knew about Zion. Uhhh…honestly? Not much. But conveniently, I had my new Fire Bible handy, so I looked it up, and this is what it says about Revelation 14:1.
 

[Rev 14:1] Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

 

”Zion” …is likely where the Ark of the Covenant (representing God’s presence among the people) was housed for a time in a special tent-shrine. After Solomon’s Temple was built, Zion came to refer to the temple grounds. Throughout Israel’s history, “Zion” became a general reference to God’s “dwelling place,” or central place of worship on earth (Ps 9:11; 74:2; Joel 3:21). But here in Revelation, Zion refers to the renewed and restored Jerusalem in which Christ will reign on earth at the end of history. Some also see this as descriptive of the heavenly Jerusalem- God’s eternal heavenly city– which will come down to the new earth at the end of time and be the eternal dwelling place of God and his people. 

 
Here are some other cool verses with Zion in it:
 

[Isaiah 62:11-12] The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’” They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted. 

 

[Zechariah 9:9] Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

 
So… we named ourselves ‘Daughters of Zion’! We all seem to be stepping into seasons of newness and bringing God’s presence to those around us. How awesome that our name so aptly refers to God’s own dwelling place, both past and future. We truly are redeemed and sought after! We are His bride! With the ways that He has pursued us, we will pursue Him and His people.
 
Even before we named our team, I had this strong sense of God reminding me that we each have the FULLNESS of God in us. The Holy Spirit LIVES in us. Not one of us has a “weaker” or “stronger” Spirit; we each have the full, powerful Spirit inside of us. And that’s why He is my strength in my strength, and my strength in my weakness. When we each realize who is in us, we can more confidently approach the adventures of life to which He calls us!
 
Let me introduce you to the other Daughters of Zion. Check their blogs out below, and PLEASE HELP SHARI SCOTT TO BE FULLY FUNDED! She is an essential part of our team and squad, and she is NOT done with the Race. God still has so much to do in and through her, so many lives to touch (including ours!), and I’m so excited to be a part of it now.
 
*Jackie Gu [jackiegu.theworldrace.org]
*Kaitlyn Keyes [kaitlynkeyes.theworldrace.org]
*Mary B. Safrit [maryb.safrit.theworldrace.org]
*Sage Wimmer [sagewimmer.theworldrace.org]
*Shari Scott [shariscott.theworldrace.org] SUPPORT HER!!!
*Stephanie Higgins (team leader) [stephaniehiggins.theworldrace.org]