At training camp, we were asked to write a testimony and a
sermon. The idea was “You never know when you’re going to get off the bus,
train, metro, truck or plane and be asked to speak thirty minutes later.� I
managed to finish one testimony at camp. The sermon will be written as soon as
I’m done with this, since Team Jubilee is in charge of the service at a church
tomorrow.
(This may or may not be what happened while attempting to finish a sermon at training camp. Hopefully the rest I got then transfers over to this afternoon!)
Side note: with every sentence, my mind is racing through
the lessons I’ve learned and things God has shown me through these situations,
experiences and stories. I could blog every day and not run out of stuff. Right
now, I’m just trying to get my mind around the idea of “If this is week one,
what is God going to do in month 3?�
So this testimony I wrote at training camp basically
addressed Proverbs 16:9 in my life: “We can make our plans, but the Lord
determines our steps.� I didn’t plan the World Race. I heard the call God
placed on my life to spend a year overseas and ran with it. Being a nurse in
the mission field made sense, God closed that door. He had so much more for me.
Learning that lesson the first time was frustrating and stressful. He’s
teaching it to me again. He’s got so much more for me. Sometimes it doesn’t
make sense. Sometimes I get a hint of why something is happening. But either
way, He’s got me.
While I was in New Jersey with the other team leaders, we
were told about the 8 “ministry contacts� that were lined up for our first
month. 7 contacts in Ukraine (at the time, the country we were planning on),
and 1 in Romania. After hearing all of the options, the 8 of us leaders and our
2 squad leaders spent some time in prayer and came back together to make final
decisions. It seems to be a running theme in my life that I have to do things
the hard way. I don’t usually see that as a conscious decision that I make. But
maybe. Anyway, my team is the one in Romania, if you haven’t figured that out already.
If it’s what God has for us, the current plan is that we will be traveling back
to Ukraine to minster next month, while the other 7 teams from our squad come
to Romania. (Can’t wait for the 2 days we all spend together as “O� squad in
Bucharest on July 11th and 12th!!!!!).
Beautiful photography by Carin of Tracy, Jenny and me on the 29 hour train ride to Romania, the country we’re “not supposed” to be in yet.
I’ve gotten a small picture of why we’re here. Some answers
to the “Why are we separate? How come everyone else is at least in the same
country?� Thankfully I’ve been able to leave the frustration behind from the
last time I learned this lesson. Maybe that has something to do with the small,
sweet answers I’ve received. First, we’ve been blessed with having the
examples, guidance, encouragement, and prayers from a couple of the “L� squad teams,
World Racers who have been on the field for 9 months. Second, our team is going
to have to depend on each other more. While communication between Ukraine and
Romania has been spotty at best, outside of email, we’re going to have to come
to each other on Jubilee. Third, God is preparing us for… yeah, something. A
few things that seem to resonate within each of us: we are preparing for
something within Jubilee, we’re preparing this ministry/city/country for the 7
teams coming behind us, and somehow we’re being “watchmen� (Isaiah 21:6-7 and
62:6-7…send more references if you have them). There’s so much more…more to
share, more that God has for me, more that I need to get. But for now…
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power
at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.�
Ephesians 3:20
