Over the past two years, the Lord has changed my life a lot…
I left on the World Race, one of the most exciting adventures I could have asked for. 11 countries over 11 months, far from home but never a second guess. There was so much to see, so much to learn and experience. And then I had the opportunity to travel again for another 5 months, leading a group of new World Racers around the world seeking God’s kingdom and spreading the news of Jesus to everyone we met. We traveled to Asia, Southern Africa, Eastern Europe and South America. We met different people, ate different food, saw many things that broke our hearts and learned much more about the people we share this planet with.
I’ve seen life, normal and ordinary all over the world. I’ve seen the school children, the moms and dads and people like you and me. I’ve seen suffering people, starving and alone, hardworking people with no work to be done. I’ve met the homeless, the sick and dying, the diseased, the hungry, the prostitutes, the drug addicts, the business men and women, the village chiefs and everyone in between. They exist all over our world, and their lives, loves, hopes, dreams and pains are the same- and so we, a bunch of average Americans, traveled to their side of the world just to meet these ordinary people, to love them, to sit with them, to hear their stories and touch them, even for a moment and remind them of a God, a true living and loving God who has not forgotten them.
I wish that I could say we changed their lives, that we could take away the pain and the suffering, and provide them endless money so they would never go hungry again. But that isn’t always possible, and at the end of the day, I learned I’m not the hero who gets to save the world. Instead, we gave them Jesus, a gift of hope that no one can take away, and faith that in the end, He always wins.
Over the past two years, I have learned to see the world for what it really is, a place filled with people just like me, that hope and dream and laugh and cry and keep going with each new day. The world is filled with people God loves. And seeing the world helped me see myself the way God sees me, the way He sees us all. He just loves us, beautifully broken, hopeful and dysfunctional, He loves us and cares for us each and every day in more ways than we could even imagine.
I learned that God really does provide our every need, even during times I think I’ve done it for myself. He makes the sun come up, and He wakes me up every morning. He taught me patience, to wait for those crowded late running buses that run on “Africa time”. He taught me self-control and humility, that I’m not the most important person, and my personal space isn’t really mine. I have learned any food given to me is a gift to help me stay alive, even if it still has eyes, and thankfulness can make any situation seem a bit brighter, even if you’re walking a few miles in the rain. I learned selflessness through those runny noses and dirt covered faces, even if I had to sleep with snot on my clothes for a few days because showers are a luxury. I learned that a smile and a hug is sometimes the best kind of unconditional love.
I learned to see people as humans with a soul, with stories and a purpose. And I learned a lot about a God who loves us all and wakes us up again with the sun each morning, because He isn’t done with us yet.
Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome.”
This is something I have learned and re-learned daily over the past two years. This world is full of trouble and heartache and pain. But if you look, you will find the hope that resides inside humanity. People long to be loved and to find a reason to smile, even when it seems impossibly hard.
While we were in Nepal during the earthquakes this year, in the midst of the rubble, helping families dig the remains of their homes out of piles of dirt, we would find their memories. The children would laugh and the parents would smile and in the midst of great suffering and loss, there was a reason to hope and be thankful that we had at least one more day. And we took heart, because Jesus promised that in this world we would always find the heartaches, but if we press on, we would see His victory, and that is a reason to smile.
These past two years have taught me so much about life and the world and the One who makes the sun rise again each morning. I have gained much, and have been blessed to set my own eyes on the places and people of this world that will forever change me, and have forever changed the course of my life.
I now have the incredible opportunity to work alongside the World Race in an office position and make this journey and life lessons a possibility for others. I’ve accepted a job to Squad Mentor World Race teams of about 40 people, 18-22 years old who want to take a leap of faith and see God’s handiwork in the nations and in their own lives. Sometimes it takes leaving your comforts to find yourself, and that is what these missionaries are willing to do. My job will be working alongside the missionaries from the World Race, checking in on them, going to visit them on the field and planning where they go and which international hosts they will work with in the countries they’ll be visiting. It’s a dream job, an opportunity that has grown out of the past few years traveling and being the hands and feet of Jesus overseas. And now I get the chance to make that happen for others.
Jesus walked with twelve disciples and taught them about God and His kingdom and how to love His people on this earth. He then sent them out to do the same- make disciples. And that is what the World Race is about, making disciples that make disciples and one by one love and live alongside people to teach them about a God who cared enough to come and walk alongside us.
This job is a dream position for me, and your support in the past has made it an option for me now. Since the World Race is a non-profit mission organization, staff is required to raise support for salary. So I’m currently looking for 10-12 people who are willing to walk alongside me financially on this new journey. People who believe in the World Race and what it does in people’s lives and the world, who believe in Jesus and what He’s doing here, and who believe in me.
If you feel led, I’m in need of monthly donations of about $100 for the next 2 years to keep me on track for financially being supported on an annual salary of $15,000/yr.
Please pray and ask the Lord. I’m believing that He will continue to provide all my needs, just like I’ve seen Him do a million ways overseas.
I would love the opportunity to connect with you personally, either through a lunch or coffee date, or over the phone if we’re a bit too far apart geographically.
Please leave a comment with your phone number and email, and I’ll get in touch with you!
If you would like to commit to financially partnering with me immediately, please click the “Support Me” link, on the left hand side of my blog page and follow the instructions to donate online or by a mailed check.
Thank you for supporting me so far. Thank you for the prayers that have covered myself and my team as we have traveled and seen so much of the world. The Lord is doing His work all over the world, and it is a privilege to have seen it in nations, and to continue seeing it in the lives of Americans who choose to leave everything behind and follow Him.
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” J.R.R. Tolkien
