Hello friends and supporters! It’s already halfway through August and I wanted to share some updates with you! First of all, Training Camp is only two months away! I am getting so excited as it is gradually becoming more and more real. I’ve only been dreaming about this for, like, six years.
Financial Updates
- I met my first financial deadline! ($5,000 by September 28th) This means that I can officially join my team for Training Camp in October! Praise God and thank you SO much to everyone who has donated.
- My next financial deadline is December 18th. I need to have $10,000 raised by then. This one is super exciting cause if I make this one, it means I can leave in January with my team and spend at least a few months on the field, even if I don’t raise the rest of the money (even though I hope to do that too)! As a fundraiser, I’m asking people to fund one day of the Race ($57) in exchange for a postcard or letter where I will tell you what I did on that day! You can see my poster as it is starting to get filled out below!
Prayer Requests
- Please pray for me to be able to pass the physical test that is in October. Please pray as I continue training that I would be able to take the test with confidence, and that I would be in good health on the day of the test. On an exciting note, most recently, I made it 4 miles in an hour with 35 pounds! If the conditions are more or less the same in Georgia, I should be okay! Thank you, God, for helping me!!
- Please pray as I start practice-packing. I am limited to a big backpack, which is heavy to carry but not all that spacious, and one smaller backpack. For 11 months.
- Please pray for good health before and during the Race. Please pray that no bugs crawl into my tent or on my skin. Seriously. Especially ants.
Life Update
The last few weeks have been pretty rough. But God has taught me a lot about Himself in the midst of it all. God is the only one who can perfectly balance mercy and justice AND He is the only one who is in total control. When I exhaust myself trying to make things go the way I think is right, I end up frustrated, upset, and defeated. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t stand up against what I think is wrong, or that there aren’t any practical actions I can take, just that I am not ultimately responsible for changing things. Imagine if I tried to go on the World Race and fix every single situation where I found hurting people or saw something wrong. I would be burnt out in less than one week. But God is teaching me to rely on who He is- merciful and just. The only one with perfect judgment. And the only one who, in the end, holds the whole world in His hands. God has been asking me to trust Him with the way things play out, and continue to love and forgive people in the meantime, no matter how difficult it is, because that is what He did for me. He sent His son to die on a cross to pay for my sins, and forgive me. Now He asks me to go and forgive others in the same way. One of my squad mates pointed out that a lot of the things that I am going through now may just be a distraction from the enemy, an attack on my emotional and spiritual health, taking my mind off of the race (and Race 🙂 ) set out before me. It is so easy to focus on the negative. But I have still seen God shower me with blessings, especially financial blessings, from others- often unexpected others- donating to the World Race, from my dad, helping me pay off my student loans, even from work- providing me with two jobs since I’ve come back from Korea, immediately and right when I needed them! I don’t want to take my eyes off of God’s goodness, or His mercy to me in spite of the wrong that I have done. This is the heart of why I want to go on World Race. Because while the world can be truly hopeless and depressing at times, God is a light. He is hope for us when we are at our lowest point. As far as it depends on me, let me go and tell everyone, everywhere about who He is and how He loves us. What other good purpose can I find for my life?
“To the roots of the mountain I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.” Jonah 2:6
“For You, oh Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 116:8-9
While I was trying to figure out a title for my blog, I found this song, so I wanted to share it too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iDuZv_5MQk Hills and Valleys by Tauren Wells
