Hey everyone! I know it’s been a little bit since I’ve written a blog, I just haven’t really been able to find the words to say. These days, I find that my brain is so scattered and I have like a bazillion (that may or may not be an exaggeration) thoughts and emotions running through me daily that it’s hard for me to collect my thoughts and put it into writing..and it actually make sense on top of that. It will probably take me a good hour… or five, to even write this one so bear with me. So much has happened in the past almost 2 months since I officially got accepted into the World Race. God has done SO much work in me already and I find myself in awe daily now as I watch him be consistently faithful and patient with me in my lack of trust and faith in Him. Something I pray for daily now, is for him to reveal things in me that maybe I just don’t see about myself that doesn’t glorify Him. How tender our God is! He has been showing me and teaching me so many wonderful things about Him and myself!
I’m studying through the book of Acts right now with someone and today chapter 4 was what we discussed. In this chapter, Peter and John are preaching about Jesus after they’ve healed the lame man. They are arrested and thrown into jail and are brought before the high priests who demand them to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.Their response blows me away and I have yet to stop thinking about it. They say, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Like….woah! Talk about boldness!! This has convicted me. Where has MY boldness been in my years of being saved? Why was I so scared of what people would think of me for so long if I talked about God? I’m so excited to be given an opportunity to take his word and be bold in my faith to countries across the world. Even now, I want to yell, “Hey! I’m not ashamed of being a child of God! Let me tell you about his love, his grace, his mercy!”
So let me give y’all the rundown on things-
Fundraising
I’ve raised, after the money I still have in hand is sent in, around $4,800. THAT.IS.INCREDIBLE! You are helping make this happen! Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for being obedient to God and helping have a part of sending me out! My tshirt sell went way better than I ever expected (shows my doubt). I’ve decided to do another sell maybe in September that will include long sleeved shirts. I know. Get excited. I also have sold quite a bit of the wood art pieces that a good friend of mine has helped me make! If you’re interested, let me know! My first deadline of $5,000 is due by Sept 23. This guarantees me a spot at training camp in Atlanta which is in October. My next deadline of another $5,000 will be due at the end of December, 2 weeks before my launch date. After that, $3,000 is due by the end of February, and the last $4,000 is due by the end of April which will allow me to be fully funded and will also allow me to stay on the entire race. However, once I leave in January, that last amount of money I will need, will be based more on people being willing to donate and help me out since I won’t be here TO fundraise! Please please please be in prayer about partnering with me and donating to help me! Again, our God is bigger than any number so I know he will provide.
We have also received an email stating that our launch date will be January 7th or 8th. Totally just got even more real when I read that email. I knew I would be leaving sooner or later, sometime in January.. but now that I actually have THE date, it’s scary, wonderful, exciting, overwhelming.. everything you can think of, it’s that! We will be flying out of Atlanta. The first couple of days of being there we will spend preparing and this will also be a time that our parents can come and spend the last few days with us before flying out… and my mom is coming! Yahhh! Although, I’ve stressed her out by the thought of her driving in Atlanta alone coming home, I’m so thankful that she is going to be there to send me off.
Most people know that I lost my dad 3 yrs ago in October (can’t even believe it’s been that long) and man, do I miss him. I’ve had several people tell me that he would be so proud of me for what I’m doing. I would give anything for him to be here to share in this amazing journey with me because I know how excited he would be for me that I’m being obedient and following God’s calling. If you didn’t know, my parents were missionaries with the IMB and spent some time in Africa, where my older sister was born. So it’s so special to me now to share the same heart and desire and also knowing that my mom understands my heart on things. God is so good and knows what he’s doing! Sorry, chasing rabbits…
Route changes
So, we’ve had several changes made to our route lately. Recently, we were notified that instead of us going to Greece, we would be going to Albania. Today, we got another email stating that instead of us going to Botswana we would now be going to Zimbabwe.. cool right??? Well, then I continued reading the email which then stated that our route apparently has been a very popular route. The max number of racers for each route is 55.. there is close to 90 people who have been accepted to this route. Yes, I said 90. SO, there is now a waitlist for this route.. and guess who is on that wait list? You got it, yours truly.. They based this off of when people paid their deposits. What this means is, I will continue being on the wait list until about a month before my training camp (I guess they want to keep us on our toes) to see how many people might either drop off or not meet their first goal of $5,000. If by that time comes, and I’m still on the wait list, I will be reassigned to a different January route. New people. Different countries. Can I be really honest right now with you guys? I’m so discouraged about this. Looking back, I will admit, I prayed and prayed about the World Race and that if it was His will I’d be accepted but I didn’t specifically pray over the routes nor did I seek God’s guidance on which route He wanted me to take so maybe God has a different idea in mind for me. He is showing me that this is just another stepping stone for me in my faith and I have to trust that it will all work out according to his plan for me and truly, I’m ok with this and am at peace about the thought of that. I ask that you please be in prayer with and for me with this current situation as I now wait to see what route I will be on. Waiting is fun…right?
Proverbs 16:9 says “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
Sometimes we as humans, especially myself, get ahead of ourselves and make decisions we think are best.. God knows BETTER than we ever will and will quickly stop us in our tracks to redirect us in the direction HE wants for us. I’m thankful for that because what a disaster it would be if I took every path I thought was the right one for myself.
What you can do to help
Most importantly, I need your prayers… and lots of it! Everybody can help in this way! I covet each and every one of them!
SPECIFICS–
- The above listed situation about possible route changes and also my heart on it.
- Fundraising of course! Fundraising is some hard stuff… I’m finding that out. Asking people for money is so uncomfortable to me so pray that God helps me with this because to people, giving is a blessing.
- The other World Racers! Satan is surely attacking.
…also…I need financial support! Be in prayer about this, and if you feel led to give, you can either click on the “Donate” button right here on my blog site or send a check in! If you choose to send a check, please make it out to Adventures in Missions and in the memo line write “broughtonleah”. OR you can just hand me the donation and I can send it in.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Thank you all so much for your prayers, support, and the endless amount of love being poured out into me! I am so blessed! I have so much love for each one of ya’ll and am so thankful for you’re obedience!
-Leah
(For the record, it only took 2 hours to write this! 
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