I can’t sum up the past six months of my life in one word, but one thing I can tell you that has changed everything for me is community. There’s something beautiful about radical Christians living together for 9 months, encouraging each other in our faith and relationships with our father, holding each other accountable to better serve the God we love, praying for one another, interceding for one another and always always always being a shoulder to cry on.
This community is a safe space.
We love each other enough to say the hard things, to call one another higher in love. We take all feedback to heart, and we humble ourselves to serve each other, because that’s what building kingdom looks like. We write prophetic notes or notes of encouragement to our teammates/squad mates when the Lord prompts us to. We have spontaneous deep conversations because we’re done with the shallow, surface-level conversations. We unmask ourselves and we aren’t afraid to show our true colors, because Christ and trust are the center stones for this community.
Being on the race has taught me that having a strong Christian community is one of the most important things. A community that supports you in everything, people who pray for or with you exactly when you need it, people who hold you accountable in all things to strengthen your relationship with Christ, people who LOVE you enough to say the hard things and call you higher, and most importantly; a community that is a safe place to share your heart without shame or judgement from anyone.
This community, we laugh together, cry together, pray together, serve together and bring kingdom together. That’s the kind of community you need. That’s the kind of community everyone needs.
This is the kind of community I’ll be seeking when I return home. Though I know it will be extremely difficult to say goodbye to my world race community, I know that they are no more than a phone call away. Whether I seek this community at college, or in the church, or wherever God plants me, I know that the Lord will provide this community and these people. I’ve been praying about this for the past month and I will continue to pray for it. God is a faithful God.
Thank you Lord for the people that you have blessed me with here on the race, thank you for each divinely ordained relationship, people handpicked by you. And thank you for people in my past who showed me what a good community does not look like, for the people you put in my path as lessons that shaped me into who I am today. Your faithfulness is unwavering, and I will always put my trust in you.
Please please please be praying for my squad/team and I as our communities back home are being built. Pray for boldness of the Holy Spirit inside of us that we are able to bring home what the church should look like and that God is so alive in us.
Thank you so much
God Bless you,
Rebekah
