Hey, Sweet People!
Wow. So back in February I shared what normal days looked like for me, but now as I type this I am wondering the same thing you all are probably wondering these days: What even is normal?
I wanted to update you guys on how the lack of normal will affect my World Race as of right now. So far nothing drastic has changed. My whole squad was supposed to meet in Georgia in July for training, but they have rescheduled that for September, right before we leave. For now my World Race remains mainly unchanged. I will still be leaving in September as planned. I believe that if I still go on the World Race the most drastic change may be some country changes on my route.
Now for what I really wanted to share with you guys. God has given me an incredible peace about whatever happens. There is totally a possibility that my trip could be canceled and that became very real to me the day that all my other summer plans were canceled. This summer I had really fun things planned all summer and was only going to be home for two weeks. It was going to be awesome. Graduate high school, travel, see friends I haven’t seen in a couple of years, spend time getting to know my squad. I was so disappointed after all those things were canceled, but I also was trying to wrap my head around the fact that I might be going to college in the fall instead of flying to Romania. I’ve said before that I really wanted to go to college instead of traveling so it shouldn’t seem like such a huge thing to adjust to, but I have been pretty focused on taking a gap year. So I started praying about it.
God reminded me of Abraham. I went all the way back to Genesis 22 and read about that time God asked him to sacrifice Issac. Right away the Bible says that God was testing Abraham. In my mind I pictured the Father, not a mischievous prankster but a loving Father who is saying, “Emma, I just wanted to know if you’d say yes. Even if the World Race does get canceled, I needed to know if you’d trust me even when it meant that your dreams and plans for college and 5-year-timeline would be put on hold.”
What is so great about this story is that Abraham sets out to do what God asked and when they get to the foot of the mountain where this is all going to take place, Abraham says to his servants, “Wait here, WE will be back.” (emphasis mine). I have always thought he said this for Issac’s benefit, but he may have just trusted God to provide. Spoiler alert: God did provide. The other really cool thing is that Abraham was blessed because of his obedience, and God also promises to bless all nations on earth through his descendants because he responded in faith. I always want to act in obedience because of this faith I have in God so that I am blessed, but so are my descendants and every nation on earth is too.
Besides, there has also been an old hymn, I Know Whom I Have Believed, that I can’t get out of my head that says, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able, to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.” I have committed the next year of my life totally to God and no amount of craziness that is happening in the world will make Him any less qualified to handle every part of what my next year will look like.
I know I am not the only one whose plans are being canceled and rearranged because of the coronavirus or COVID- 19, whatever you find yourself calling this pandemic these days. You can totally apply this story to your own life. No matter how big or small your plans were, I serve a God who has sovereign authority over the whole world and everything that happens in it, but still cares about every detail of our lives. He can and should be trusted with every detail, and He actually deserves it because our faith in Him is an act of worship. By trusting Him we receive this great gift of peace. It totally isn’t too late to claim that gift of peace if you haven’t been utilizing it yet, or to decide to come to God and join in a relationship where that peace can be found if you haven’t already.
Obviously, as much as I have a peace about whatever happens, things change quickly these days, so one major way you can pray for me is that I continue to have an inexplicable peace and that everything will fall into place, whether the World Race happens or not. Per usual, if you haven’t already, you should subscribe to my blog by clicking the button under my picture that says “Subscribe” so that a notification will be sent to your email when I post a new blog so that you will be the first to know any updates!
Fundraising has been hard during this time and celebrating birthdays are also hard, so I figured it would be cool to combine the two things. Twice the challenge means twice the celebration, am I right? My 18th birthday is tomorrow, Friday April 17th, and for my 18th birthday I am asking that people donate $18 to my World Race to help me celebrate. Just one dollar for every year I have been alive. If only 56 people help me celebrate my birthday then I will be $1,000 closer to being fully funded. You can do this by clicking the orange donate button at the top of this page or you can email or message me if you would rather have my address to mail me $18 of birthday congrats.
