I got accepted to the World Race back in November. Since the day that I got accepted my mind has been consumed with thoughts about the journey I was about to embark on. My thoughts ranged from packing lists to questioning my abilities and knowledge.
What will the language barrier look like?
How many pairs of underwear should I pack?
What backpack should I buy?
How do I write a Sermon?
Will I be able to fit everything in that backpack?
Not a day went by that I didn’t think about something World Race related.
Flash forward to today. I have been on the race for 3 months and I have been to 4 countries. I am currently in Dobromirka, Bulgaria serving. Since the day that I left the states my mind has been focused on the future.
Is God calling me to be a long term missionary?
What am I going to do when I get back to the states?
Should I go to grad school when I get back?
What will life look like without my squad?
Where will I move?
Where is the balance of living for the now and planning for the future?
My thoughts and worries have been future focused for so long. I find myself in Bulgaria fighting for the present. Trying to not get lost in the maze of my mind.
I am robbing myself of being present to God and his plans for me.
Each and every moment of the day God is with me, we are literally walking side by side, hand in hand, and I find myself not enjoying the view but being worried about the future.
Too often I am elsewhere missing out on the greatest gift of all, God’s guidance and love.
Now realizing this, I am choosing to wake up everyday and ask the Lord to allow me to be present in whatever it is I am engaged with at the moment and to always be present to him.
“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”
”Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:26-27, 34