This past year has been the craziest whirlwind, train wreck, rewarding experience that I would never change for anything. I can’t really remember what my expectations exactly were for this year but I know that the world race was not what I thought it was going to be. I honestly thought this year was going to be a bunch of feel good experiences that had me flying high and taking names, I was going to be the best Christian ever and no one was going to stop me, I was going to be working hard so I could justify to myself and to everyone else all of the financial support I had received and everyone at home was going to be so impressed and maybe even a little jealous. Could I have been any more ignorant?
One of the focuses of the world race is your personal relationship with the Lord and growth within that relationship and boy did I experience major growth. When I started this journey and even a few months before I left I thought I was in an excellent place in my personal walk with God, and I actually was for that time in my life but God wanted to do something bigger. I had so much sin in my life in years past that I repented for and thought it was all over not realizing that the enemy still had a stronghold in my life in those ways. I gained so much freedom from so many things that it’s almost indescribable. God has constantly been redeeming me this year and still is because I have learned how to ask for that redemption every single day.
I also struggled this year with wanting to prove myself to everyone at home and all of my followers that I was doing hard work. I would try and make my Facebook posts as impressive as possible so everyone would see I was having a great time working hard and not know when I was really struggling. In all honesty, the World Race is really hard work but it’s more emotional work than anything. We didn’t always get to do manual labor or go to the slums, a lot of times ministry looked like sitting around and making friends with people. I had to learn that The World Race is a challenging job and it puts you to work so many different ways that there is no way any of us could do it on our own. That’s why we live in community and that’s why we have supporters who not only give financially so this entire thing can happen, but also pray for us day in and day out. I could not be more thankful for all of my supporters who have stuck with me and still stand
by me. I know that I don’t have to impress them because they are already impressed by God and the work that He’s doing through every racer.
So what have I struggled with since I came home? I’ve struggled with a lot, everything from accidentally driving on the wrong side of the road to not getting in the groove of a consistent quiet time every day. The first few weeks of being home were some of the hardest, I wasn’t with my team anymore and I felt like no one at home understood me. I was no longer living in world race community and I had no idea what to do with myself, there were times when I would just sit down and cry because I felt unbelievably alone. But I had to realize that these feelings I was having weren’t from the Lord, and when I decided to just sit down and talk to Him about it, He was the one who took all of it away and He was the one who told me to take the community I had been living in and bring it home, and so that’s what I’ve done, I’ve been implementing feedback into my everyday life, praying for people and have been living by the faith that I’ve learned to
live by. Bringing world race community back home has been one of the most intimidating things I’ve done this past year but one of the most rewarding and I haven’t regretted a second of it.
This year has been some of the best times I have ever had and some of the worst times I have ever had and through it all it is well. God has never left me, or anyone through any of it and has strategically planned every moment; and no matter the good or the ugly, it is well.
So in all honesty, what do I think of Adventures in Missions and The World Race? I have a very high regard for Adventures in Missions and a special place in my heart for The Race. This journey I have been on has made me a completely transformed daughter of Christ and He decided to use this company and program to help me along with that. Sure Adventures has messed up but so have we all and that’s why we operate on a huge basis of grace. Everyone I have met who works for Adventures is led by the Holy Spirit in everything they do and is a true inspiration to me. I could not say any more good things about Adventures in Missions and I will always recommend for anyone who wants to know Jesus more to go on The World Race.
