Hi everyone!! I have about a week left on the race, which is insane! As this season quickly closes, I want to share how the Lord has used The World Race Gap Year to change my life. Early on, I became familiar with a phrase AIM uses that can pretty much break down the race as a whole: “intimacy, community, mission”. Over the months, each of these things have taken on new depth & meaning. So here’s the first part of my blog series on what these things mean to me now, what I’ve learned through them, and how I’ve seen the Lord move within them.
INTIMACY
Let’s start in Gainesville, GA. I began to see the Lord in new ways, as a Father & a friend. I began to deeply value the time I spent with Him. I learned to hear His voice. I watched as the Lord uprooted lies I had believed about myself and replaced them with His truth. He dug up hurt & pain, and brought healing in His perfect timing. I began to see worship as a lifestyle. I learned to surrender: the good, the bad, and everything in between. I began to see & believe that I have a seat at the Father’s table.
I saw the Father’s unwavering faithfulness in month 4, when our squad was home for the month of December due to COVID. I found the same intimacy with the Lord quarantining in my room as I did in my tent in Gainesville.
In Costa Rica, I began to feel the Father’s love more tangibly than ever before & watched as my knowledge of His love for me dropped from my head to my heart. I felt the Lord in the wind. I learned to receive His unconditional love & grace, even in the midst of knowing I’ll never fully understand it. I learned to ask the Lord questions & I received answers. I learned to choose celebration over comparison. I stepped into the authority that has been given to me as a child of God. I learned to walk in my identity as His daughter in deeper & bolder ways than ever before.
In the Dominican Republic, I learned to rely on the Lord’s strength in everything. I pressed into scripture & saw the word come alive in new ways. I freely gave away the unconditional love the Lord has shown me. I learned to yield to the Spirit in conversations. I saw darkness & experienced immense heaviness, but I found the Lord present in the midst of it. I followed Him into the fire & He brought refinement. I learned to experience the joy of the Lord in all things. I saw the fruit of our ministry & watched the Lord move through the people here in mighty ways. I learned to fight from victory.
Freedom. Authority. Truth. Abundance. Identity. Refinement. Victory.
While there is SO much more I’ve learned through intimacy with the Lord on the race & so many more details I could add, I know I’ll be telling of all the things the Lord has walked me through in these 9 months forever. Please feel free to ask me about ANYTHING – I’d love to talk!
All the love,
Jen
