I long to be free. I once heard, “To be free is not to do whatever you want whenever you want. To be free is to be able to do what God has called you to do with no hesitations or limitations.” This is where my heart is. To be able to jump into God’s calling, no reservations, no second thoughts. On that note, The World Race was just that for me. From the day I found out about it till the day I was in training camp as a ‘World Racer’ was a mere five weeks. In fact, it was only 7 days between getting my application in and boarding a plane to headquarters to meet my peers and basically break my heart at what we call ‘training’. I took a leap of faith, well maybe a skydive of faith, into what God had called me to without really even thinking about what it was going to mean later in my life. I just knew, I had been called, and for the first time in my life I was going to obey.
Yet despite how long it may take me to transition, I am one-millimeter closer everyday. I have given up food I want, not all the time but on occasion. I am learning to prefer my community, to put them above myself whenever possible. I am learning that I can survive even after I have given up sleep, to hold accountable to my hour of prayer during the night. To know that even if I am tired, God is working. To know that over the course of a night, two people are up every hour, walking the halls, sitting together, worshiping God, and praying for us, is amazing. So as my alarm went off at 4:50am for my 5am shift that I hold today, I didn’t grumble, but I got my Bible, my iPod, and a cup of tea as I headed to relieve the shift before me. I am learning that my room of bunks and 5 girls is do-able, even with our packs everywhere and a clothesline that I must step over to get to my bed. I am learning to give the end of the brown sugar to someone else as we eat oatmeal for breakfast and I take strawberries, not telling them how much I am obsessed with brown sugar. I am learning that when someone sees my tears, it does not mean I am any weaker, and less, or anything other than exactly what God made me to be, but rather I am being real and dying to my pride, my honor, and myself.
I am learning….
I am learning….
I am learning…
