UNSCRIPTED

As you know, come January 2019 I will be embarking on a journey of a lifetime. One that the Lord has so graciously led me to and one I am so super excited to start. I’ve met my first fundraising deadline, I already told my job, I have a lot of my gear and currently I am training to do a 2.2 mile hike in under 38 minutes with all of my gear on.

(INTENSE!) 

The closer we come to the launch date, the more I feel like the attacks of the enemy are coming on strong. Right now there are about 24 of us in our squad and when I tell you that we are all facing spiritual warfare, it is no joke! 

We are all going through these periods of great pain, suffering, loss, confusion, discouragement, etc. It’s insane – but what it does more than anything is bring us closer to each other and to the Father. When we have trouble connecting and being intentional in our relationship with the Lord, we are there for each other, covering each other in prayer, sending encouraging messages and sharing our struggles in similar trials. It is crazy to think that I have only just begun to know my squad since early May and the bonds we share are strong despite having never met each other in person. It’s the same for the squad-mates I’ve left behind too or vice versa. But what is super cool is still being able to follow their journey’s, receive encouraging messages from them, wherever they are in the world and just knowing that they are praying for you in your circumstance. Without having ever even gone on the World Race yet, this process alone of getting to know perfect strangers and loving them for who they are is pretty incredible and it changes you. 

Earlier this week one of my squad-mates dropped from the World Race. It was a sad day. Although I never had the pleasure of meeting her in person, I still value her and our friendship. When you anticipate that you are going to embark on a once in a lifetime journey with a certain group of people and then this happens, it’s like leaving a little piece of your heart with them. It’s so strange but it is true. Of course, we all wish her well and are excited to see where God leads her next, but we are still a little heart broken that we will go on this journey without her. Even when we know that statistically, not everyone that is on our squad right now will actually launch come January, it still hurts your heart a little each time someone drops or switches routes. Sometimes I think that it is God’s way of preparing us for the relationships we will form along the way in all the different countries and how we will have to leave those people behind, leaving little pieces of our heart everywhere we go.  

The truth is, we can make our own plans but we never really know what God has in store. Our lives, just like this journey we are about to embark on is UNSCRIPTED. Only God knows what His plans are. We are just going and doing what God is leading us to, whatever that looks like, even when it doesn’t make any sense at all.

Regardless, we have to trust that God knows exactly what He is doing. He holds our life plans in His hands. I believe during this time, He is making and molding us. He is refining and pruning us. He is preparing us for what is to come and for such a time as this. Every single one of us. 

 

A Time for Everything – Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

 

 

 

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.