This morning while checking emails, buried deep in a mix of work emails and junk mail and online shopping sale notifications, I stumbled on an email from Adventures in Missions reminding me that a year ago today I returned home from the Race.
If my year on the Race was the longest year of my life, then this past year was certainly the shortest. It doesn’t seem that long ago that my plane touched down at JFK and my squadmates and I cheered and hugged and said goodbye. I was fortunate enough to spend a few days in New York City to celebrate. We drank American beers and marveled at the Christmas decorations. We bought new clothes and tossed most of the clothes we had been wearing all year. We celebrated being done, being home and all that God did in our lives on the World Race and in the lives of the people we were blessed to come into contact with that year.
Ironically enough, my husband and I plan to go to New York City this weekend, and we have a lot to celebrate too. Our new marriage, our new city, our new jobs, and that we’ll actually both be in the United States this Christmas. It has been a whirlwind year, and God has been with us every step of the way as we dealt with lots of big “life changes” all at once.
We love Denver so far and are both getting settled into our jobs. It’s been a harder adjustment then we expected returning to the real world and our big kid jobs. Most days I certainly wish I could be snuggling some orphans in Africa or jumping off bridges in Nepal rather than working at my desk, but I do feel fortunate to have found my job at the Colorado School of Mines Foundation.
We have found a great new church home in Colorado as well and we look forward to continuing to grow in our faith through our new church community in the new year. My walk with Christ looks a lot different in America than it did on the World Race, but He’s teaching me that that is okay.
As more and more time goes by, the more thankful I become that I had the opportunity to go on the World Race. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity, and one that I’ll forever hold dear to my heart. I’ll always be grateful for those of you who supported me in that journey.
God is certainly whispering that I am not done with missions, although who knows what that may look like in the future. While it’s not in store for us in the current season we are walking in, I’m able to live vicariously through some of my former teammates who are either back on the Race as squad leaders or who have gone back to mission sites we visited last year. Their blogs are listed below if you feel like checking them out, and as always with Racers, prayers and donations are appreciated.
bethanybernard.theworldrace.org
bethanywaddell.theworldrace.org
Finally, on this “Giving Tuesday,” if you’re looking for an international missions organization to support, please consider joining me in donating to some of my favorite organizations I was blessed by last year:
Challenge Farm, Kenya–http://challengefarm.org/donate/
Covenant Children’s Homes, India–http://cch-india.com/stocking-stuffers/
Zion’s Gate, Honduras–more info here: https://www.facebook.com/zionsgatehonduras
Wishing you and your families a blessed holiday season! Merry Christmas!
xoxo,
Bethany
