These last few days have felt like such a whirlwind. I feel like I say this a lot, but it is true…life on the field can be quite fast paced! Leaving the ministry, Remember Nhu, last month, was priceless. We men were given a memorable goodbye from all 60 girls who each made us hand written letters, wove us scarves, gave us bracelets, and cried as they hugged us farewell. It was such a precious moment and as with all goodbyes, has made leaving each country one of the hardest things I’ve had to do repeatedly.
Jared and I with our newly fashioned scarves…perfect for 90 degree weather…
Heading back to Bangkok for a couple days, I knew that our entire squad was about to be stretched. We were about to go through team changes as well as leadership changes. Our former squad leaders (who have been on the World Race before) will be leaving us at the end of December and thus have been responsible for rising up two new leaders to replace themselves. During this process I was presented with an opportunity to lead our group (Q Squad) with another girl from the squad, Tricia Wegman (an amazing woman of God)!
Tricia and I….Excited about new opportunities!
Without getting into too much detail, I decided to accept the challenge not fully understanding what I was getting myself into. While back in Bangkok, the weight of this new role really started to sink in and the enemy started to attack me with negative thoughts making me feel I was not capable of this, I was not the right person, etc.. I started to feel the heaviness as my insecurities and nervousness were trying to surface.
Asking God simply for “HELP�, I walked into a room where the rest of the squad had gathered for worship. As I opened the door, a girl on my squad immediately greeted me, with a huge smile. She ran up to me and said that God has given her a word for me, which she had written down. The verse God gave her was from Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.� She went on to explain more specifically why this verse was for me.
New squad leaders (Me, Tricia) with the old (Tiffany, Patrick)
Already feeling much better, I continued into the room. A couple minutes later another girl on my squad approached me who said she had two words for me, from God: “Gentleness and Humility�. She went onto explain how these Christ-like attributes applied to me. WOW! Now, I was feeling completely reassured of my insecurities and began to worship MY LORD with the rest of the squad. God was not done yet…
Moments later, a guy on my squad approached me and began to pray over me. The words that he used were very choice and timely, which continued to lift my spirit. Heading back to my room that night I felt excited again for the daunting task that lay ahead. As I lay down to sleep, I looked over and saw a green index card with a note written on it. This was full of encouraging words and scripture from a guy on my squad. I thought, “God, now you are just showing off� (which is totally okay with me)!
Please keep in mind that all these people approached me, not knowing that I was being raised up into a new leadership role… it had not been announced yet. All I can say is that God knew what I was going through and as I began to “pass through the waters, He truly was with me!â€�
Squad “Travel Day” to CAMBODIA!!!!
