It’s the holiday season: family is coming into town, there are Nutcrackers to see, parties to attend, cookies to be eaten. I’m trying to find the balance between enjoying the last moments in America with friends and family, while also feeling antsy and READY TO GO. If you know me, you know I was ready to leave months ago. In two weeks, I’ll be on a plane to Atlanta, where my team will do some last training for a couple of days, and then we’ll fly to Medellin, Colombia on January 7.
I’d like to just share a couple of ways that God has been preparing my heart for this amazing opportunity:
1. Running to God FIRST before running to friends/social media/comfort food, etc. This is still a work in process, but I’m hoping to continue learning how to go to my Provider first for counsel and comfort.
2. Learning that prayer is a two-way conversation. My whole life, I thought prayer was one way: you ask God for something, you thank God for something, you repent to God about something. As part of my training, I’ve gone through a study called “the Art of the Listening Prayer”, which is basically that: learning to hear our Father’s voice and learning to have a conversation with the Creator. The amount of joy, comfort, and peace He has brought me through His voice is indescribable.
3. Holding everything with open hands, not tightly clutched fists. Not much is guaranteed in this world as far as earthly things go: our money, loved ones, possessions, jobs, and even our lives could be taken from us without warning. But maybe, perhaps, these things were never “ours” to begin with. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). I hope that I’ll be able to hold things with loose grasps on the World Race, and I can be free to give away time, energy, words of encouragement, and whatever God would overfill my cup with.
I’m sure there are so many other ways God has been preparing me, but these are the ones that stand out to me right now.
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in You I trust,
Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me.
Make me know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day.”
Psalm 25:1-2, 4-5
