I expect BIG things from a HUGE God.
Disclaimer: They say you shouldn’t expect things out of people, places, experiences, and what not. Well for the World Race, I know I shouldn’t expect anything. Having expectations could mess up my experience or cause me to miss the things that the Lord has for me through it.
However, I am going to break this rule and expect amazing things from my Father in heaven who gives good gifts to His children. So please be in prayer that God will show up in these areas ten-fold.
- I expect God to show up every single day. This could be in the people I meet, the other missionaries I am going with, the nature I see, the ministries I am working with, the work I am doing, or in infinite other ways. My prayer is that my eyes will be open and that my spirit will be present, so that I do not miss Him. Please pray that I will not be distracted but that my focus will be renewed each day.
- I expect for this year to be the hardest year of my life. With that, I expect that I will be broken in ways I didn’t even know I could break, and then even more so, I expect that Jesus will heal the wounds and fill me up with His incredible love. The days will be long and the work will be hard, but I expect the Lord to be my strength and for to me to learn to lean into Him when I feel I can’t do it anymore (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
- I expect that God will change lives during the next year. I hope and pray that my life is one of them. I want to return after the race a different person, more like Jesus in every way. I expect many people to experience the Lord through my squad and me the next year. How that will happen I do not exactly know, but I know that He can and will work through us to love on His children in the nations. I also expect for the other missionaries on my squad that their lives will be changed. For each person, this will look different. But I am so thankful that we have a creative God who does amazingly wonderful works in us, the children He adores.
- I expect that I will fall madly in love with Jesus. His grace and love can be overwhelming. I pray that I will be open to experiencing it while on the mission field in ways I can’t even imagine. I hope I leave the mission field wanting more and more of Him, like I could never get enough. He is water to my soul (John 6:35).
- I expect miracles to happen. The God who turned water into wine and a staff into a snake, the One who split the Red Sea and helped Gideon defeat the Midianites with only trumpets, the miraculous God of the Old Testament is the same God who lives and reigns today. He can and WILL do miracles over the next year. Please pray that I will not be doubtful or skeptical but call on the power of the Holy Spirit to produce many, many miracles while I am on the mission field. I believe the Spirit will heal the sick, cause the blind to see, and make the lame walk.
I am not sure exactly what the Lord will do through me over the next year, but He does. He has a great work to do in the nations and He chose me to do it through. What a humbling and exciting gift that is! Please pray that all these expectations come to fruition over the next 11 months while I am on the mission field in His way and in His timing. Most of all pray that God will be abundantly glorified through all of them.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17
