We just finished our midpoint debrief in Montenegro and this week has been all about processing and REJOICING in all of the things that He’s done in these past 5 1/2 months. He’s taught me a million things about myself, about Him, and about who I am in Him. He’s placed me in beautiful positions of vulnerability and has placed an incredible community alongside me- a community full of people whose heartbeat is to love like Jesus and to become more like Him, each day. He’s given me surreal testimonies and friendships around the world.. For these things, I am so thankful.
I wanted to share with you all a few of the million things that I’ve learned on the Race so far.
Give up expectations.
Coming on the Race, I had a lot of expectations for what it would look like.. I didn’t expect to be spending most of my time in Airbnb’s or hostels. I didn’t expect there to be days where I felt like I wasn’t “making a difference”. I didn’t expect God to change my perspective on missions.
I also had a lot of expectations coming from loved ones. I was always told of how proud people were of me. I was told that I was a world-changer- a person of impact. I took those sentences and turned them into false expectations, telling myself that I had to live up to what others were telling me. But GOD is the person of impact. God is the One making a difference. He’s just taking me along for the ride.
Ministry is just living as Jesus did.
To go along with the expectations thing.. When I first started pursuing my call to missions, I had a really close-minded perspective on what missions consisted of. I saw missions the way that most Westernized-Christians did and what I had experienced prior to this trip. Going on mission abroad was praying with prostitutes in brothels, hugging babies in orphanages, and walking in the slums. While this is all true, it’s not all. Most full-time missionaries don’t life their daily lives like this.
There’s a quote that we say a lot that says, “Life is ministry and ministry is life.” It refers to how Jesus’ ministry was just living out a normal life, but with intention. He built relationships and did what came naturally. He wasn’t spending most of His time taking pictures with kids or sitting in orphanages.. He was just loving the people that were placed in His path whilst listening to God’s voice. With Fusion, we aren’t given set-ministries. We sometimes get called to go to churches or stay with missionaries that give us ministries, but our main ministry is to listen to God’s voice each day and to follow.. And a lot of the time, He tells us to build relationships with people and to love them as Jesus did. Sometimes, He gives us insane stories to follow, but others, He just gives us the opportunity to grow in our faith by trusting that He is going to take care of them and worked in the interactions that we had with them.
I had never solely done just this while on mission. It’s been challenging at times because of the “save the world” mentality that a lot of missionaries, including myself, can carry. We place expectations on ourselves that belong to God.. He saved the world 2018 years ago and He has every day since then. But God has shown me sooo much about His heart in ministry and what the daily life of a long-term missionary really is like.
Community over everything.
You. need. community. And you need to reach out to that community. Here is a caption from an Instagram post that I made a few days ago for you all, to go into detail:
“Lately, I’ve been struggling with insecurity in alllll of it’s lovely forms. The enemy has tried to lie to me about who I am and the roles that I play, and has tried to make me feel sorry for it. He has tried to steal my worth and joy, but GOD always comes through. I’m not saying this because I want compliments or apologies, but because I know that I’m not alone in it and I’ve been learning so much about the beauty of vulnerability. God’s been teaching me a lot about how speaking our messes out opens doors for others to step up and with the hand of another, have the ability to spread light across the shadows that kept us quiet for so long. He has been using my community to strip away the lies that I’ve believed for a lifetime that whisper, “You’re not good enough.” or “You will never be worthy.” Through them, I’ve learned so much about the importance of having a healthy community to surround you and speak those internal battles out to. So here’s to opening that door for you: If you’re struggling with ANYTHING such as insecurity, depression, loneliness, etc., I want you to know that you’re not alone. This post is an invitation for you to have the community that you deserve. It’s purpose is to let you know that people want to hear your voice and you are worth the time. Reach out to your loved ones or even message me if you need a person to tag alongside you and let you know that you. are. enough. The floor’s open.”
God doesn’t make sense.
Hahaha ohhhh boyyy.. From going to a small beach village in Ecuador that wasn’t necessarily known for being the safest place on earth to having us go to France without knowing if we’d be able to cross the border or go to Hungary for four days without any knowledge of why we were spending extra money to go to (read my blog about Paris and Budapest!).. He’s had us do some crazy things. And every time, He’s shown up in huge ways. I love how He has asked us to take great leaps of faith for the sake of a testimony to share with others. He doesn’t make sense in the midst of it, but in the end there’s always a huge, “Aha!” moment where He reveals His purpose.. and blows our minds, because it’s God and He loves to do that. 🙂
New Normals.
The World Race has created “new normals” for me.
New Normal: Getting to a city late at night without having lodging.
New Normal: Sleeping on cold train station floors.
New Normal: Bus rides 20+ hours
New Normal: Cramming a large amount of people in a small space.
New Normal: Sleeping in the lobby of an Airbnb because there are no rooms left and all of the other hostels are booked, as well.
New Normal: Living off of $5 a day for food
New Normal: Cold showers
New Normal: Drinking warm water.
New Normal: Wearing the same shirt three days in a row.
New Normal: Getting to a country.. Without having any idea of what you’re going to do or where you’re going to go.
New Normal: Cutting your friend’s hair.
New Normal: Pooping your pants.. I haven’t yet, but some of my teammates haven’t been as fortunate.
New Normal: Hand-washing clothes.
New Normal: Being tired by 9PM
New Normal: Being wayyy too comfortable with the people around you. You don’t even have to ask to take each other’s food, drinks, or clothes.. It’s great!
The mundane comes fast. Don’t let it.
You’re going to be in some really cool places. You get used to the big cities, the new cultures, the changes.. But don’t let it become mundane. I’ve found myself in places that I’ve always dreamt of going to and not really exploring when it comes to our off-days because I get so wrapped up in the routine of things and by the time we have a sabbath, all I want to do is rest by spending time with Jesus and my team. However, the Lord keeps telling me, whether I’m in a city or the slums, to soak in every moment of it. To seek out new reasons for thankfulness and the opportunities that we’ve been given to travel the world whilst making the name of Jesus FAMOUS.
I’m cherished.
By Jesus, by my squad, by my leaders, by you all. Guys, this is something that the Lord has put so much time and effort into teaching me. I’ve struggled with getting that head-knowledge to my heart. But God has allowed me to walk through some tough and some sweet seasons within these past 5 1/2 months in order to see my value and position as a Daughter of God. He has shown me the great depths of His love and how His love is unfailing and never gives up on us. I’ve always known this and applied it to others, but never to myself. I’ve never truly seen myself through God’s eyes and He has used the Race to cultivate a new depth of intimacy between Him and I, showing me that He adores me and has chosen me to be His; not because of anything that I could ever do but because He carries so much grace for each and every one of us.
Yep..
The crazy thing is, we’ve barely scratched the surface. The Race has taught me so much already and we’re only halfway through. It would take a lifetime to cover every detail of what God has done both visibly and behind-the-scenes. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for these next five months and the testimonies that are going to come out of it! It’s been a beautiful journey so far.
Want To Partner With Me?
As I reflect on what the Race has been so far and recall all of the stories that have come to life because of it, I can’t help but think of how thankful I am that God decided to send out a random 21-year-old from Ohio to live out the Great Commission in so many places and I am so thankful that He has used you all to support me in this. I mean, guys.. $17,400 is a lot of money and seemed almost impossible when I applied for this trip. But when God calls, He provides and He never falls short! I only have $2,745 left to raise until I’m fully funded!
While AIM has shown so much grace and support in this fundraising process, my deadline was a couple of months ago and I, along with some of my teammates, face the possibility of having to leave the Race early if we are not fully funded soon. I have absolute assurance that God is going to cover my finances if finishing out the Race is what I’m meant to do, but I need people to partner alongside me by donating, whether that’s one-time, monthly, bi-monthly, etc. If you’d like to help financially, you can click on the “Donate!” Button at the top of my blog page (it’s tax-deductible!) or you can absolutely pray for God’s provision over my finances and my teammates! I am going to place the links to the blogs of my squad-mate’s that aren’t yet fully funded below if you’d like to support them, as well!
Words fail to describe the depth of gratitude that I carry for each of you that have helped me get this far into the Race through your support. This is YOUR journey as much as it is mine! Though the busyness of life may have prevented some of you from going out, you were used to help SEND out- and to me, that is just as important.
Thank you so much for taking your time to read this blog! I have a couple more coming your way soooooon and I can’t wait to share these stories with you all. Love you guys!
Here are the links to my squad-mate’s blogs below:
https://jackieriopelle.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=bio
https://forrestdickerson.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=bio
https://vanessadejesus.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=bio
https://katelagerwey.theworldrace.org
https://graceohara.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=bio
