Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the WAY, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14: 5- 6
I think I’m beginning to discover what it means that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life this month, August 2020.
August is the eighth month of the year, and eight symbolizes new beginnings in the bible. The most prominent example I see is that Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives all together were the eight righteous people that God saved when he sent the flood to wipe out the ungodly and start over.
I have had the privilege to step into a deeper obedience this month and practice trust with the Father that His heart is good and I can throw my life into His hands.
On August 3rd my World Race squad was expecting an email that would change the trajectory of our trip, because a decision would be shared on where we would now go and when we would leave because of the effects of the pandemic, if our trip would be canceled altogether, etc.
From that day in February of this year that Jesus spoke clearly to me that it was time that I should apply for the World Race, the one thing I heard him say about the trip was, “You’re leaving in October”. That made choosing a route simple because when I went to look there was only one squad leaving in October, so I knew this is the route I should apply for, and ended up on it!
Throughout this time from March to now, getting to know this squad has been life-changing. We did a weekly bible study on zoom every Thursday, which ended up being my favorite part of my weeks. Especially during a season of more strict quarantine, when I was in ministry school in California in the middle of nowhere and all of the sudden couldn’t see my friends or anyone outside of my house and was doing school online. (I am a serious extrovert and my life practically revolves around people!) The zoom calls were life-giving and it was so fun to get to know these wild people who were throwing their lives into Jesus’ hands like I was. We would start the call in the evenings and sometimes stay on for five hours because we were enjoying each other so much.
Coming back to North Carolina in May I got to meet some of the people on my squad who lived in my area, and that was beautiful! Each person had so much to offer and such a genuineness about them as I met more and more squad-mates. I felt enjoyed and known by these people, and I was overwhelmed with the goodness and providence of God to bring this wild, diverse, ever-loving group of people together in such a time as this. I got to see a beautiful glimpse into how God designed the body of Christ to operate and love each other deeply, each with different gifts and all working together as a powerful body to represent Jesus on the earth.
On August 3rd, everything changed for my squad because instead of being given the answers for where and when our squad would start our journey, we were given a bunch of options for our next move, which would split this group up, as we each had to follow God’s leading for ourselves. It was a hard day, and a week of decision-making and mourning our squad being a unit, no longer to be together on the mission field for a year like we had all imagined.
The options were essentially:
-Stay with leaving in October and start in the United States doing ministry in two different cities until January, then hopefully launch internationally.
-Defer to a different route and leave in January instead, with the hopes of starting internationally.
-Defer to an August 2021 route, and wait a year to leave but much more likely go internationally.
From opening the email, I knew God had spoken, “You’re leaving in October” over me the entire time, so I knew what he was asking me to do. I considered picking a January route because one of them seemed to really pull on my heart, and several people from our squad had already decided to defer to January, and many ended up choosing that, while not many chose to stick with October. In addition, I had over $4000 that I still needed in a month to stay on the trip for October, and if I chose a later route I would have more time to raise the funds. I chose October, and had peace that I was obedient, even if it would look different. I struggled with not having much vision for this trip anymore like I had in the beginning, and I have had vision for international missions for so long. But I trusted God’s voice and knew he was growing me in trust for Him even if I couldn’t see what I was jumping into at all. I felt a bit of what Joshua and Caleb must have felt seeing giants in the promised land yet not backing down, when the rest fell on the ground in despair over the giants they did not expect to see, they
stood their ground. // I believe the Body of Christ is being called right now to likewise, “stand their ground” in the hope of Jesus our cornerstone, no matter what we see. Hope colors our world differently than despair does. “We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus our forerunner has gone in before us.” Hebrews 6:19-20a TPT
I learned how to surrender more as I surrendered my original squad to the Lord, knowing that I could rejoice in the time we got together and felt peace fill the cracks in my heart over the changes and separation I did not expect. A trusted mentor who did the World Race years before said that this was just the beginning of learning to fall in love with people, places, etc. and have to surrender them to the Lord over and over again. I am learning that following Jesus is not for the faint of heart, but I am so thankful that even in the stretching, He’s making a new wine-skin to hold the New Wine He’ll pour out into my life.
Although that sounded like the end of the story, that I’m still leaving in October, another shift happened- wildness.
Around Friday August 14th I began feeling a lack of peace with the World Race, and with my choice to stick with the October route as I previously felt God leading. I had a dream the night of Saturday the 15th that I was sitting around with the October squad and I just got up and said, “hey guys, I’m not supposed to be here anymore” and simply walked away in joy.
I heard in the dream, “defer to August 2021”
I painted at my church the morning after the dream, had a great morning, then while my pastor was speaking I began to recall the dream and realized that I needed to defer my World Race! I had so much peace and joy about the Race again once I thought about deferring to August 2021. It was such a shift, but the Lord later showed me that He did want me to commit to October originally and that He was testing my heart for Him to follow when I couldn’t see. I am thankful that I got to grow in hearing my Lord’s voice and was able to build trust with Him in the process. I would not trade any of it!
//So yes, I will be leaving in August of 2021 now and I’m eager to find out which countries I will be going to and more details. This blog page will stay the same, so you can stay subscribed and my donations will still be accepted on this site! The money I have raised so far will stay with my World Race, so now I have another year to fund-raise the rest of the $17,700 total that I will need.
Thank you for following my journey so far! If you have any comments, questions, or concerns please shoot them my way. I hope sharing my journey and process with you is encouraging and that you get to grow in hearing God’s voice and following his leading like I am! For my current adventure, I am about to move from Winston Salem, North Carolina to Dallas, Texas in about a week’s time! I decided a week ago that this was what I felt God was leading me to for this time I have before I leave on the World Race. I am so so excited to find Jesus in meeting new people, a new city, a new church community I see Holy Spirit moving in, and whatever the Lord has for me that I will get to discover! I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for a next step in my life, I’m expectant to see God move!
If you are not already “following” my blog for email updates when I post new posts, totally click the “follow” button below so I can keep you in the loop!
There is so much ahead for you, my friend. Jesus is the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE.
Much love, Lucy Smoot
