Wow! I can’t believe I’m in Month 8 of the World Race. As quickly as the time has gone by, it is also getting very real here, and there have definitely been some struggles. Last month in Uganda, I felt the Lord tell me that the next month (this one I’m currently in) was going to be hard… and He wasn’t kidding!
Month 8 (historically speaking) is one of the hardest months for anyone who does the World Race. By this point, the “excitement” of being in a new country every month has been almost entirely replaced by feelings of physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion. People start spending less and less time exploring on “adventure days/off days” and more time sleeping in and spending some good solid time with the Lord in a quiet place. This is also the month when thoughts of home start to get difficult. You start hearing more people say, “This is the longest I’ve been away from home. It feels like I should be heading into a break or something.” And then you realize you still have to keep up the energy for 3 more months. And to tell you the truth, no one is ever completely exempt from this.
In general, I’ve loved just about everything about this year so far, even the difficult parts. Sure, I’ve had some harder months. In India, I was unbelievably hot and sweaty. I literally went to bed sweating. In Ecuador, our schedule was sporadic and our ministry hours were incredibly long. Like 10+ hours a day for a 9 day stretch. Uganda? We didn’t even have a planned ministry. We had to completely rely on the Lord. Still, it’s all been worth it, and the Lord has used every single thing to help me grow and mature in my pursuit of Him.
And now we are in Kenya for Month 8, and the speed has not slowed down for a minute. Part of that might be because we jumped straight in this month without a debrief (which is a first for my squad this year). But to tell you the truth, this month feels draining mostly because of the perspective I’m approaching it with. It’s only natural that we would look back at the growth the Lord has done in us over the last few months, so that’s what I’ve been doing. At the same time, however, looking back on how I was in Colombia, I’m also realizing that the energy I started the Race with has been all but completely spent and I’m now running on fumes.
Pretty much as soon as my team got here, we have been “booking it.” And pretty much just as quickly, the Lord has been reminding me to keep relying on Him. “Trust Me,” He says. I need to keep pressing in to my relationship with Him, ESPECIALLY when I’m feeling exhausted.
I have been planning out and processing so many things this month: fundraising for World Race America, planning transportation to and from ministry for my team, hashing out logistics and finances with our host, and so many more things. I felt like maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. But again, the Lord is saying, “JUST trust Me.” As in ONLY do that. ONLY trust…
Our first weekend here, my team and I got to be a part of a optic health clinic with SoulTeam, a group of medical missionaries from the the United States. Most of them live in Oklahoma (a state I’ve not spent a lot of time in but I will hopefully remedy that next year). They were all bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and full of excitement and energy.
Wow. I remember when I was that excited.
We got here at the tail-end of their mission, and their team was just about ready to be back home. “I miss my family. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve loved Africa and serving here, but I am going to be glad to go home soon.”
And cue the sudden homesickness for us on the WR.
But more than anything, I loved spending this time with SoulTeam. They were truly wonderful and incredibly kind. But most of all, they reminded me of something: the reason why I am here.
Every morning without fail, we would see all of them outside scattered through the grounds of our base spending quiet time with the Lord. And they LOVED each other deeply with a “family” kind of mentality. They were inspiring and passionate for the Lord and His people, two things that are sure to light a fire under me. And it wasn’t even until this moment of writing and processing that I fully realized just how inspiring they are. Their hunger for the Lord. Their reliance on Him for energy. Their desire to go back out there every day to open up a clinic to people they can hardly even communicate with! Nothing and no one can stop you when who fully embrace the difficulties and press into the Lord through them.
Whenever you encounter difficulty in something you believe you are called to, remind yourself why you are doing it in the first place. This was the same advice we were given in nursing school. It was advice I took when I worked as a nurse. And it’s what I’m being reminded of now. Even at this moment, I feel the Lord reminding me with this: “You are here to bring Me glory, Andrew. Not you.”
So now, I’m even more encouraged to persist. Even in the midst of fast-paced ministry and countless responsibilities, I am not going to lose sight of the One running this Race before me. I will not allow myself to slow down because I might lose sight of Him. I’m trusting Him as my Pacer and my Guide through this. He sees every turn long before I do. It only makes sense that I should follow and do what He does. He truly wants us to finish the Race set before us, but I’d rather not walk across that finish line. That would mean I still had something I could have given. I would rather crawl across it because I gave it my all.
In all things, be blessed.
AG
