lessons from georgia :: this is the second blog in a series i’ll be writing and posting in the month of december, inviting others into the things the Lord has been speaking into my life over this past season in gainesville, ga.
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processing.
before i came to georgia, i heard a lot about “taking things to the Lord” or “surrendering” my life to Him. the idea of it made sense in my head – life happens and overwhelms everybody at one point or another, but we have an infinite and almighty God who is willing and able to take care of it. it sounds great, right? but i had no idea how to actually “take things to the Lord” in my day-to-day life. i frequently found myself overwhelmed with the stresses of each day, but since i didn’t know how to deal with it with God, i would just avoid spending time with Him altogether.
days would turn into weeks of not spending time with the Lord. i knew in my head that all i needed to do was surrender – but what did that even mean?! my frustration and worries built up, and i arrived on campus in september with a LOT going on in my head and heart.
one of the biggest things going through my mind was, “what am i doing here?”
i knew that if my heart wasn’t in the right place about doing the race, it would not go well. i needed to have a solid foundation in the Lord, i needed a WHY.
thankfully, that was one of the first things Madie, our squad mentor brought up for us to process. each weekend on campus was sabbath, which means that it was set aside for rest, and every saturday from 10 to 12 a.m. was solitude, two hours for us to just sit alone with the Lord. that first weekend, Madie gave us a list of questions to go through and answer with the Lord about why we were here.
those two hours were SO good for me. i lay on the floor with my journal and asked myself things like:
why did i originally sign up for world race gap year?
why did i choose to stay committed to WRGY after the contingency plan was announced?
when the journey gets hard and i want to quit, what will be my reason for staying?
i didn’t have all the answers to these questions at first. but when i took the time to pray about it and ask the Lord what the answers were, He answered.
i signed up for world race gap year because i thought it was a great opportunity to seek the Lord wholeheartedly for 9 months (when am i ever going to get the chance to do something like that again?!) and the Lord promises to bless us and be with us when we seek Him (Matthew 6:33, Joshua 1:9, Jeremiah 29:13)
i chose to stay committed to WRGY even when the plan changed (a lot) because i have faith that He will be faithful to His promises no matter what happens.
when the journey gets hard, i will stay (i AM staying) because
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Jeremiah 29:13 — He promises that I will find Him, when I seek Him with all my heart
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Galatians 6:9 — doing good and serving Him will bear fruit, even if I’m not there to see it
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Philippians 1:6 — He’s never going to give up on me; He’s going to be working on me and making me more like Jesus the rest of my life
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Isaiah 55:10-13 — HE IS FAITHFUL AND HIS PROMISES ARE TRUE
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taking the time to process all of my thoughts, doubts, and fears with the Lord has changed the way i live life. as soon as i feel myself getting stressed, i know that i’ve been neglecting my time with Him. and once i get to sit in a quiet place and pour out everything from my head into my journal, i can finally feel His presence again and be at peace. processing with God doesn’t mean that suddenly my life is all figured out, but it does remind me of who is really in control and that His intentions for me are always good. so then what do i have to worry about??
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wow, thanks for being so patient with me as i figured out how to finally get this blog written! i know i said i had a series coming and there will be one more blog going along with that, as well as a big photo blog to recap allllll of georgia, but in pictures!
in other world race news, this past month i found out i was chosen to be one of my squad’s storytelling leaders (see my last blog for more of my heart on that 🙂 ) and i’m going to be one of AIM’s on the field story interns (with a focus on photography)!!!
what that means is that i’ll be posting a lot more blogs and photo blogs as my squad launches overseas! one thing the Lord’s been teaching me a lot about is that part of my ministry is to you guys (the people back home !) and that i get to share the story of what God is doing in the world with all of you! so stay tuned!!
