Four months ago I met my team at training camp. I was so excited to get to know my fellow teammates and live a life for God with them. Four months later, we were told that we would be parting ways for new teams. As hard as it is to say goodbye, I am thankful for all of the memories we shared together.
Living in community is not easy. Each of us can attest to that. And we have. As one last hurrah, we have each written things we have learned from living in community.
The Lord has taught me so many things these past four months on the world race. The team the Lord has provided me to do life with on the race is AMAZING! I have learned so much from them. They’ve taught me to:
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Love radically
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Be intentional
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Give without hesitation
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Always be ready to share about Jesus
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Walk in humility
I’ve cried and laughed with these women. They’ve seen me at my best and worst and still show God’s love to me and others. Through the hills and valleys of life they have been present and a reflection of the light of Jesus to the world. Team changes are coming soon and although it is bitter and sweet, I know that God has worked in so many ways so far. He has instilled within us all various gifts, passions and talents and I have been INSPIRED to seek Jesus more and more by their lives. I have seen them walk in FREEDOM to REVEAL kingdom here on this earth. I LOVE THEM and will always be forever thankful for them.
-Nettie
I remember preparing to go to training camp and wondering what my community would be like for the next year. Would it be kind? Crazy? Weird? Accepting? I desired to be in a community that would challenge me, love me, and always point me back to Jesus. Let me tell you, this group of women who I have had the privilege to do life with the last four months are incredible. They were strangers who became family. They have seen me at my best, and at my worst. They have asked and invited me into new levels of vulnerability and reassured me it is okay to be seen. I have grown in my self confidence because they have seen a lot of me, and still choose to love and encourage me. I will treasure the memories we have made together and look forward to future ones. Even though team changes are approaching, no one can replace the family I have found in team Undivided.
-Megan
I feel like it was only yesterday when I sitting in the Serbian airport with my teammates thinking, “How on earth is a group of young, sleep-deprived women going to find a bus to get to a completely different country without any communication with our hosts and our leaders?” Nine hours later, the six of us were at the bus station in Pristina, Kosovo waiting for our host to pick us up.
It’s been four months since this. FOUR MONTHS. Time flies so fast when you’re having fun. But really, these ladies are completely amazing and have taught me so much about what healthy community looks like. Sure, we’ve had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, we were always able to come to each other with any problem.
I’ve learned the most about the beauty of vulnerability from these women. Last month, we sat down and told each other our testimonies. Not the two minute one you would say to a stranger in an elevator. Like, an hour of describing my brokenness and realizing that we all share the same shame. I learned how telling my story not only frees me, but frees those who hear it. The Lord wants us to walk in freedom, and through being with these women I am taking steps without chains.
–Kristie McFadden
When filling out my application for the race I put that community was what I was most looking forward to this year. Little did I know that community would be one of the toughest parts of the race. It is taking six very different personalities, life styles, and leadership styles and asking them to figure out life when barely knowing each other. It hasn’t been easy, but I look back to month one and think WOW we have grown so much. We have grown individually and together, we have learned how to talk to each other about our struggles, and we have learned how to see each other through the eyes of Christ. If I had to pick one big thing that I learned from the past four months it is how to give and receive grace and believe that they love you no matter what. I can say that I have learned more about what a healthy community looks like in the last four months then I ever have. As team changes approach I am so thankful that I have been with these five women the past four months to learn how to have a healthy community and how to grow together. Here’s to team Undivided, let’s take on these next seven months like the strong awesome women we are.
–Averi Adams
I remember doing team-building exercises at training camp with different groups of people so that our leaders could see how we work together. The last group I was placed with was the team I ended up on, and I couldn’t be more thankful. The last exercise we did as a team, all six of us were standing on a towel, and we had to work together to flip the towel over completely to the other side without anyone stepping off of it. We laughed, we held each other up quite literally, we had each other in headlocks, and we had our arms wrapped around one another in a warm embrace. We swayed side to side, needing to put more weight on one side so the others could make a change. We almost lost our balance a few times, but one by one we gained it back. Together, we flipped it to the other side. We did it, and we rejoiced upon completion.
As I look back, and think about what living in community with these six strong women has brought to me, I am reminded of that time. The Lord knew exactly what He was doing when placing each of us on this team. In the exact way that we had to work together to flip the towel at training camp, we have had to work together to do a 180 in our lives. We have held each other as we cried; we’ve had each other in headlocks during times of stubbornness, and called each other higher out of our independency. We’ve laughed at our mistakes, and at how far we’ve come since the beginning. We’ve embraced each others quirks and developed a place of “come as you are”. We’ve carried the weight when some of us could not. All of these things have taught me that it’s okay to not have it all together. They have taught me that when I am weak, I am still strong because of he who lives in me. Living in intentional community has taught me that I can’t do it on my own. I’ve also learned that there are a million different ways to one thing… not just my way. That one was humbling. As this time together comes to an end, I can’t help but smile with tears. I look at our 4 months together, and I rejoice in what the Lord has done.
— Dani King
What I learned in community….I think it’s easier to answer what did I NOT learn. However in an effort to stay on topic, I would say I have learned that community is worth it. It’s worth the awkward feedback sessions, it’s worth being vulnerable, it’s worth learning to choose to give grace. Before we left home in October, I would have told you that I was looking forward to living in community. Now I look back, and I realize I truly didn’t understand the importance of, or the benefit of community. I wanted community, but I definitely thought I could live life without it and be perfectly fine. Now, after living with 5 other humans with totally different ways of living life I can say I have been refined. I’ve learned to press in, even when I want to keep to myself. I’ve learned to choose to trust the hearts of these women, and let go of the pain of past hurts, because community is worth it. –Kenadi Burford
Team Undivided,
Thank you for being my sisters. Thank you for giving me grace and learning what it means to be women of God right along side me. Even though we aren’t together for this next stretch of the Race, I know that God has placed us where we need to be in order to grow even closer to Him. I love each of you dearly and cannot wait for travel days just to see your lovely faces again!
–Krispie
