Month 2, done! It is crazy to believe that I am already into my third month on the Race! I unintentionally didn’t post any blog updates while in Chile, so here is an overview of things the Lord taught me.
C o n f i d e n c e
During high school, I used to struggle a lot with self-confidence. I would go into things constantly worried, not trusting the abilities or knowledge the Lord had given me. I worked through that and learned how to put my confidence in the Lord, thus putting confidence in who He made me to be. Since I began the Race, I have said many times that I am doing what He has created me to do. I truly believe that. I am loving life on the Race. Yet, in this last month, there have been many things that I’ve had to do that have been hard. When I was reflecting over the last month, I realized that even in those hard things I have had confidence through it all. That confidence is not based strictly on who I am, but rather it is solely in the Lord, knowing that He has given me the abilities, talents, and everything else I need to be here on the Race. Having that confidence has brought so much freedom and joy in everyday life.
Jeremiah 17:7
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.
H o l i n e s s
At the beginning of the Race, I felt the Lord lead me to begin reading through the Bible beginning to end. This is something I have attempted several times but have never succeeded. A few weeks ago, I spent some time in Leviticus which is usually the part where I stop reading, ahah! But this time was different. Reading Leviticus was amazing! I loved it! If you haven’t read Leviticus, it is basically all about the offerings and laws that everyone had to follow in order to be in right relation with the Lord. It can get mundane and tedious. It’s easy to read it and think, how does this apply to me today? But what I learned is that without the book of Leviticus, we would not be able to understand what Jesus did for us on the cross. I don’t want to go into much detail right now, but one thing that really stuck out to me in this book is the Holiness of God. Because Jesus took our sins and made us right with God, I often times forget how Holy He is. But when you read how the people couldn’t even go close to the tent where the presence of the Lord resided, it puts into prospective the Holiness of the Lord. And for me, when I think about how Holy God is and yet how I can have a personal relationship with Him, I am left in awe!
Leviticus 19:2b
Be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
I n d i v i d u a l i t y
At the beginning of Chile, we got new teams. Instead of being on a team of four, I am now on a team of five. Early on into our new team, Team Church Camp, I realized how different everyone on our team was. In my first month, I learned the beauty of community and how even though everyone was different, we could still come together, united in Christ. But something I have been learning a lot about this past month is how our differences come together. The Lord made us all unique. He gave each of us different talents, desires, preferences, etc. Even more, He speaks to us all differently. As we all have been learning about one another, there has been tension with everyone’s differences. Yet, as we grow together, we are learning about finding a balance between that. I am learning how beautiful it is when we have people on both sides of a spectrum and yet can learn from each other. We need all sides. If everyone was the same, we may be strong in some areas, but we would be weak in others. We need each other’s differences. It hasn’t been easy, and our team is still learning a lot, but seeing the Lord bring our individual personalities together has been beautiful.
1 Corinthians 12:21-27
The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy. You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.
L o v e
Several days ago, my whole squad got together for a few days of debrief. Through both conversations with people and personal alone time, the Lord opened my eyes to so many things. One of those things was a hard truth – I have always desired love from other people over love from the Lord. When the Lord revealed this to me, I was both overwhelmed by the truth of it and also felt liberated at the same time. I plan on writing more about it later, as there is still a lot the Lord is doing in my heart, but for starters, I just wanted to share at how great the love of the Lord is.
Psalm 63:3
My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life.
E x h a u s t i n g
Other than a day here and there, I have yet to feel physically exhausted. But, I have reached a point of mental and emotional exhaustion recently. When I felt it hit, I thought I just needed a Sabbath or more sleep. But at debrief I realized that it went deeper than that. For the past 2+ weeks, I have been trying to carry the weight of my entire team. I know that I feel the emotions of others, often times too much, but I did not realize how much I was trying to carry the weight of everything. At debrief, our team spent some time in prayer and I felt the Lord take this burden off my shoulders and remind me that I am not created to carry all of it. I told my teammates about it and some of them continued to speak truth over me. Since then I have felt so much lighter and free. I still care about my team and want to be the best team leader I can be, but that does not mean carrying their burdens for them. It means handing it to the One who can carry it all.
Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
That’s all for Chile!! Now on to Month #3 -> ARGENTINA!!
