whats happening with the race? I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked this in these past few months. It might not come with much surprise that its going to look a little different then expected (One of many things the Lord has taught me through all of this). It is clearly not safe to travel out of the country right now, and in some cases merely impossible with closed borders. Well if you can’t leave the country, then whats your new plan?
The World Race sent out an email to all of the racers last Monday, on what the next 9 months would look like. Now I wish it was just that easy. to simply be told what to do. This was far from the case for me. In the email sent, they gave us 4 options:
1. stay at the AIMS headquarters in Georgia from Sept-Jan for a semester of missional training, leadership development and discipleship with the hopes of launching to an undecided route from Jan-May
2. join their new 6 month gap year launching in January. This would mean a whole new squad and still an undecided route
3. Defer to Gap year 2021, meaning all of my fundraising for this year would be transferred to my choice of a new route next year
4. completely withdraw from the race and all support would be refunded through a process of emails and phone calls
At first I thought the obvious answer would be sticking to the plan that most reflected the original(option one). I would have loved for it to be that simple. But in reality I was really struggling to make a decision. And I was finding it even harder to hear the Lords voice through it all. I constantly prayed but couldn’t seem to find the clarity that I needed. My answer to anyone who asked was simply “I just don’t know…”
For a few days, I was honestly considering completely dropping from the Race. This option started to sound more and more appealing. I started to follow my hearts desire, because I felt like this was the safer option. With this option I didn’t have to deal with fundraising anymore or the scary thoughts of still not being able to launch in January. But the biggest reason this felt like the best thing to do was because I just couldn’t hear the Lord telling me exactly what to choose. So in return I thought doing what I wanted to do would be the right choice. I brought this struggle to a friend, who said something that sparked exactly what I needed to hear. She said that maybe the Lord Is not giving me clarity because he wants me to blindly trust this path that He knew would happen long before it did. I knew in that moment, the words I read were the exact words the Lord wanted me to hear. shortly after, I started listening to a sermon on making decisions. He went through Proverbs 3:5-8 and what stuck out to me were verses 5 and 7 which say
“trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding.
Do not be wise in your OWN eyes”
This was the clarity that I needed. I could have chose to follow my own heart and my own desires which meant completely differing from the Race. Avoiding the uncertainty and struggles. But I know that He wants me to lean into Him, and fully trust that this is what He wants for me. I am blindly trusting that this is the way He wants things to be. I don’t know exactly what lies ahead, but i’ve never felt so much peace with a decision. With that said…
Im going to Georgia in September!!
when the Lord first put the Race on my heart, I was confused. I didn’t want to go into something that I knew nothing about. I was scared because I didn’t know what was in store for me, or why it was happening. But I told the Lord that I would trust Him, and go head first even though I couldn’t fully understand. I trusted Him with this, and full circle, is exactly what Im doing now 🙂
To my Gap D squad:
Im so beyond grateful for the friendships i’ve made, and will continue to make. To those of you pursuing other options, I am SO excited to see what the Lord does with you and the ways He will USE you. I full heartedly believe that no matter where life takes you, the Lord will be also. This is truly such an amazing group of Christ followers, and I’m so blessed to know you. And to those of you who chose to go to Georgia, well lets just say that the Lord is about to MOVE and I am READY!!
lots of love, cat
