Today marks exactly two weeks until I leave for the World Race with my incredible squad. It is crazy to think that three weeks from today I will be adjusting to life in Cambodia. I am on a ten day road trip right now visiting friends and family in Milledgeville GA, Athens GA, Woodbridge VA, Forest VA, Asheville NC and Cashiers NC. When I am back in Atlanta I will have six days to figure out how to pack a backpack to live out of for nine months. How hard can it be, right? People often ask me what I am feeling during this time leading up to launch. As I have said before there is truly no way to pinpoint one specific emotion. I am excited, afraid, overjoyed and a little sad all at once. Honestly my emotions vary hour to hour sometimes. Recently I have felt the Lord encouraging me to look forward to the next nine months with a posture of expectancy. I don’t know what the Lord is going to do this year, but I can be expectant that He is going to move and do incredible things. I may not know exactly what to expect, but I know I can be expectant of much. That being said I wanted to post a list of prayer requests for my team and I. Please pray these things whenever you remember for the entirety of the nine months.
- Pray my team and I surrender our expectations. We put God in a box when we go into situations with preconceived ideas of what should / will happen. We come out either overwhelmed or disappointed. Pray my team takes this gap year one day at a time and that the Lord can have His way in our lives and the lives of those around us without our expectations getting in the way of all He is trying to do.
- Pray that we maintain our focus. Pray that we remember the reason we are where we are. Pray that we not see the race as just an opportunity to be adventurous and see the world, but that we see it as nine months of life growing with our Father. That we get to see what He sees. That we get to feel what He feels. That we get to serve others the way Jesus served. That those around us might come to know the true freedom in Christ. That we live selflessly. That we live fearlessly. That when we are rejected we not grow weary and make things about us. That we grow into the women of God the Lord designed us to be.
- Pray for the people of Cambodia, Thailand, Honduras, Guatemala and Ethiopia. Pray that God softens their hearts to receive His voice and His truth. Pray for the people we have yet to meet. Pray for the encounters we will have with them. Pray that people will desire to be baptized and { sincerely } born again in Jesus name.
- Pray for our friends and families back home. Pray they adjust to us being so far away from them. Pray they grow in their faith throughout this experience. Pray they know how much we love them and how much God loves them.
- Pray for team unity. Pray that we learn how to love and respect each other well. Pray that conflicts be resolved in a mature and fruitful way. Pray we come together as the body of Christ. Pray we see each other’s strengths and gifts and encourage each other in those areas.
- Pray that we come back changed. Pray we are never able to see the world the same way. Pray we are never able to see people the same way. Pray we will live our lives after the race through the eyes of Christ and not conform to society. Pray we listen when the Lord wants to teach us and mold us. Pray we humble ourselves enough to understand that our ways are not the best ways. Pray we know the love of the Lord more deeply than ever before and that our lives be fully surrendered to His good and perfect will.
This is so exciting. This is so surreal. God is so good.
-CJ
