So recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the sacrifices that I’ll be making when I leave for The World Race. I go through the same safe routine in a safe location and I do all of this with a loving family that supports me. It’s comfortable. It’s…dare I say…EASY.
I want for nothing here because just about anything I want, I’m able to get. I have a family that is available whenever I need them. I go to a nice church with bathrooms inside. I forget how easy I have it. Well, knowing this, I’ve realized that for the next year of my life, I am going to be without most of these things…
My family.
They have loved me through thick and thin. They have nurtured me and supported me through my early Christian life.
They have been there. It’s not easy to just pick up and leave them. However, God led me to a few verses that really brought some clarity to the situation:
“Peter said to him, ‘We have left all we had to follow you!’ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.'” Luke 18:28-30
Even though I am leaving behind an incredible family, I am doing it for the sake of something far greater. God’s word does not return void. This is so true. I will be receiving a life that is way better than anything I could imagine. I’m so excited!! Although I will miss them very much, I will be obedient to God’s calling on my life no matter where that takes me.
Rather than focus on what I’ve left behind, I am choosing to turn my attention to where I’m going. I forsake the ordinary life for the extraordinary one:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27
I desire to not be polluted by this world anymore. I want to practice TRUE religion. One that is PURE and FAULTLESS. I aim towards a new life that shares the love of Jesus to those who are in distress. I desire to break out of what is COMFORTABLE. I want to be uncomfortable.
Please be praying that I will practice TRUE religion at home before I even leave. Pray that I will focus on what is ahead rather than what I’m leaving behind. Please pray for my preparation. And please, please, pray that I finish strongly in school. I only have 2 weeks left!!!
