Okay, RECAP time. I’ve been back in Michigan for just about ten days now. I’ll be thinking about this past eleven months, the fifteen countries, all the beautiful people it entailed and pondering all God did for quite some time. Tonight, I simply wanted to share a few (of the endless) things God was teaching me during this year. If you have additional insights or wisdoms, I’d love to hear those on the comments below!
11n11 TAKE-AWAYS FOR BLOG FOLLOWERS—
-No matter where I travel or call home, nothing comes close to the dwelling place I inherit as a child of the King. It’s simply the best dwelling place. Period. We were created to be loved by the Father. My role as His daughter is my greatest identity and invokes my greatest purpose.
-Over and over throughout the race, I experienced the banquet table of the Kingdom. The reality—starting with dinners on the Camino, to lentil paste and banana pancakes with DoTL, to a potato feast in Spitak, to hot drinks and curry with Mosaic, to an Easter potluck in Kyrgyzstan, to rice triangles from Family Mart in Japan—these celebrations of community brought me nearly to tears so many times as I looked around and felt this crazy expression of love. Community, family, the table. These are sacred, protected and celebrated extensions of God’s love and character. The table and the community that surrounds it is such a huge part of experiencing the Kingdom come here on Earth. So, see me in the future, attempting to host a dinner party like I experienced on the race— with an abundance of food, diversity of people, authenticity of emotions and warmth of God’s love in a capacity that only He could bring, and I’ll never fully be able to take in.
-Submission is not weakness. Not being okay is not weakness. Expression is not weakness. Weakness is actually not weakness when we are seeking God in it. God has been teaching me that seeking Him in the humility and depravity of my flesh is THE spiritual power stance He calls us to. He is the Father that wants to love us as we are, in all of our emotion and humaneness. I don’t have to clean myself up or fake-it til I make it to be loved. Performance has nothing to do with the Father’s love for me. I simply have to be willing to humble myself and approach the throne as His dignified daugher. It’s there God embraces me fully and allows me to hear, be empowered, heal, be obedient. God is extending an inheritance and the rich reality of the upside down Kindgom for us to embrace.
-I am never alone. Whether I’m on the mountain or in the valley, in the Middle East or the Midwest, I am never alone. All I have to do is still my heart and silence all the distractions. Practice presence, because God never leaves me. The still, inner voice is always speaking. The Word of God is always providing truth and Biblical example of people who have gone before us, in most every circumstance and way. Community, also, has the direct and powerful potential to be the extension of God’s love all around. If we feel alone, we must choose to let love and light in. Because, the truth is, we are never alone.
-The Holy Spirit equips and ministers beyond my capacity or imagination. Our God is radical, so I need to expect to be shocked and live in that faith. Daily. Being expectant and open handed to how and when the Spirit desires to move is everything. Being a willing vessel is not about me. At all. Any movement of the Spirit is from the Father
-If I want to really be secure in my identity in Christ, I need to die to all the false selves I’ve created. Being stripped from the ease of independence, providing for self, training for triathlons, role as nurse, benefits of an income, finely controlled nutrition, privacy, preference, validation in sucess, comfort of living in own culture etc—God continues to show me more of what it means to be His. He continues to show me what it means to live more deeply in the rich blessing of community. That has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with who God calls me. His. As I grow more secure in my identity as His daughter, I‘ve grown in trust that God is my ultimate. My provision, sustainer, greatest identity, redeemer, friend. When we know what’s absolute, and what in us is absolute, everything else just seems way less important. Being understood and accepted in the world’s eye becomes less important. Striving and creating myself seems more and more foolish. God has to be at the center. As I become more of who I was created to be, I have the freedom to live within His provision. And then use the passion and gifts He gave me for His glory, not to fill a void of self-worth and value.
-Live without regrets and without harboring bitterness. Open hands. I’m learning to be more quick to listen, slower to speak, slower to judge and more willing to let release and forgive. I have learned more deeply my capacity to both greatly love and greatly harm through my disposition. I’ll spend my life trying and failing at this—thank God for grace, but greater awareness is a great step in the right direction to surrender.
-God calls us to pray continually, and I should being praying on offense. God calls me to live in victory. There is no darkness that can conquer the light that lives within me. We are victors in Jesus’ blood. If God has given you freedom, healing, forgiveness, grace. Accept that. And accept it in victory. Be free to move forward with Kingdom purpose and His victory. Singing the song in my heart means claiming all that God has given me and living from His authority and newness.
-When I move an inch, God moves an unfathomable amount more. My hands have to be open. His presence and existence is what gives us identity, power, purpose. We are dust, and he chooses to work through us for His glory. If I’m not willing, then I cannot be the daughter God’s made me to be.
-Make friends for Jesus. I like to think that evangelism is really that simple. Show up, be authentic, listen, be engaged. Be present and real with emotions. If Jesus is in you, this person will see that and desire the freedom and love you have. People just need a friend like Jesus. And if you know Jesus, you have Jesus to give away.
-Just keep saying yes. To the weird thing, to the scary thing, to the absurd thing, to the awkward thing. I’ve seen the Spirit move in crazy ways when we were willing to trust, release and expect. Be willing to say yes, even and especially when you think WHAT THE HECK, HOW?! If you can hear the invitation or feel the conviction, SAY YES.
These are not lessons solely for the missions field or to be utilized overseas—they are practical lessons I desire to continue walking more deeply in until I leave this Earth. I know more than ever that I am nothing without Christ. But, with more enthusiasm than ever before, I’m excited to continue growing in deeper relationship with Him! I hope you are encouraged in your own faith walk through what God has been teaching me. There is so much to learn. I have so much to learn. (Isn’t that exciting?!)! But even more than that heart knowledge, there is so much love to simply and securely be embraced by. I pray that you find the Father in your heart in a new, deeper and more tangible way even as you read this.
These lessons just begin to scratch the surface of all I’m trying to store away in my heart from this year. The Father’s invitations are rich and always beyond my comprehension. As my heart continues to learn more of who my Father is, I am excited to continue on the journey with HIm. In just a few weeks, I’m returning to Atlanta for leadership training. I will be leaving the country for three more months with Y-Squad, another Expedition squad that departs this August. I will be traveling through CHINA-NEPAL-INDIA with them for three months. I will be helping on the leadership team for this squad. We will journey together for these three months, and then they will continue the last eight months of their journey as I return home to Michigan come November. I am expectant for all that is to come and all God has to unpack and teach us in this time. Please partner in prayer with me for this new expedition squad, the team I will be leading and for the financial provision needed for this to be possible. Please also partner with me in prayer as I continue to seek God with my future post race, specifically in the realm of medicine and the call I feel to military nursing. Last summer, I would have had no idea what this year would hold and the potential the World Race would unlock in my heart for the Kingdom. It is my prayer to go and empower new friends in the Spirit and just love well. Sometimes, the best gifts are the most unexpected, and as I go back out to the field with Y-squad and excitedly press into the future in prayer, I am already thanking God for how He has made a way.
Thanks for your support throughout the last year, and for following the adventure it has been. I am blessed beyond words or even my own comprehension by how the Father is leading my life and has captivated my heart in a way I could have not even known to desire.
