I am currently in the airport, heading to Atlanta launch, the final step before this adventure officially begins! I can’t believe it is finally here!!!
My goodbyes have been sweet and encouraging. Thank you to everyone who has been lifting me up, encouraging me, and praying for me in these last few weeks of prep.
God has put on my heart two things:
ONE…
God has asked me to create a space to build a closer community of supporters, friends, and family as we embark on this incredible journey the Lord has set before us.
I am not stepping into this journey alone. So many of y’all have and are stepping into it right alongside me, prayerfully, financially, spiritually, and emotionally. I want to be as connected and united with y’all as possible as we seek to expand the kingdom together.
So, I have created a Facebook group where I am hoping to be able to more regularly reach out, update, give and receive prayer requests, and give and receive encouragement! If you would like to be in this Facebook group, please comment or message me and let me know! Anyone and everyone is welcome to join, and you can add whoever!
TWO…
A lot of people have been asking me why it is that I decided to go on the world race. What would cause me to leave my incredible life and friends at school, the college volleyball career I have been working for since I first touched a ball, and just the safety, freedoms, comforts, and privilege of my life here?
The bottom line is: I do not know God.
I know the God of middle class secure Americans and a reflection of the last 21 years of Ellie’s life experiences.
That’s not God. Even if it is one tiny glimmer of him, it is skewed most definitely.
I cannot continue living as I am without knowing the one who breathed life into me, purposed my steps, and saved my soul, giving me life yet again.
I want to know the God of all peoples in every place for all of time, the God of successful CEOs and aborted babies.
Because of this need, my God who provides good and perfect gifts for his children has provided this opportunity for me to take this trip with him – call it the world race, a kingdom journey, a pilgrimage, whatever.
Bob Goff, a fabulous author and man of God, wrote in his book, Love Does, “God asks us what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep, indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world he made. Then, he invites us to explore it – like an artist walking you through his gallery.”
I’m not just walking through and viewing the world; more than that, I am living, learning, and loving both in it and with it. I am not sure what is more beautiful than exploring all of creation with the one who created it, but that’s what I am doing. That is what God is calling me to right now.
I am so grateful and expectant for how God will capture my heart in new and fresh ways, for how he will demolish the walls of the many boxes our culture, society, and myself have put him in, and for how he will continue to open my heart to love him and his people with the unconditional and abounding love that comes only from him.
This is the journey we are going on. Thank you for coming with me. I can’t wait for how God will transform our minds, hearts, relationships, and ultimately lives, simply through knowing him better.
Our God is good. He is faithful. He is alive, and he is working. Hallelujah!
Next time you hear from me, it will be from India! Whoop whoop!
In His Love, Ellie
