Most months on the race we have a host, somebody that we stay with and they give us ministry each day. Every month looks different but we at least have that going for us. This month looked a little different for my team.
No host.
The Race calls this ATL-Ask the Lord.
This month, instead of working with a specific ministry, our job as a team was to find hosts for future teams and just love on people around us. This model gives us so much more freedom to just serve however God calls us to, but also means we had very little structure and had to create structure as a team.
I pretty much thrive on chaos so not having a schedule or plan is kind of perfect for me. But in an even bigger way this month was my favorite so far.
Each morning we prayed as a team about where God would guide us, where He had us that particular day. And everyday looked different. Some days we walked around the city and prayed. Other days we looked up different potential places and spent our days contacting them and setting up meetings. Other days we actually got to be boots on the ground meeting with potential new hosts. It was a blast!
Getting that first email back saying “yes! We would love to meet with you!” And getting to meet face to face with the first potential partner was incredible. We met beautiful humans that are loving people in their own unique ways, some just being incredible humans helping other humans, and some truly pointing others to Him with everything they do. I thrived. It was hard, draining, stretching, and exhausting. But it was also all around phenomenal.
The very first day we got a lead and it turned out to be great. And we have a potential host from it. But then we hit a slump. It was like every lead was a dead end. Every time we sought out something we thought would be perfect it just…wasn’t. Until the last week of the month. God dropped the most phenomenal humans into our laps and it felt like our entire month was worth it.
But I want to talk about the week between these experiences. What about the moments where it felt like nothing was happening? Like we had somehow failed? Those moments were hard. It was easy to believe that my efforts were falling short and sometimes I thought
“I knew it. I’m not effective so I might as well give up”.
First of all. LIE.
Second of all. When we reach the end of ourselves and finally quit trying to do it ourselves is when God can show out.
Something that my team leader , Maddie, kept saying over and over was “is it building Kingdom?” If the answer was yes, worth it. I came back to that so many times. It isn’t about checking OUR boxes or fulfilling OUR expectations. It’s about building Kingdom.
Sometimes building Kingdom is loving my teammates. Sometimes building Kingdom is creating a friendship/connection with the waiter at our favorite coffee shops. Sometimes building Kingdom is running a fun race with a bunch of tourists and telling them your testimony over breakfast. Sometimes Kingdom is interceding while teammates go to a worship service. Sometimes Kingdom is quietly admitting that I can’t and I need Him to do it for me. Sometimes Kingdom is stepping into something new and scary. Sometimes Kingdom is holding the hand of a crying friend because the spiritual battle is too much. Sometimes Kingdom is just being exactly where He places you and being open to do whatever He asks.
I learned a lot this month. But if I had to boil it down to one thing that thing would be-He just wants our yes and He will do the rest.
You remember the story of the slaves and the shekels? The first two slaves used the shekels to make more. They were faithful with the little things and He gave them more.
That is exactly what this month felt like. Even in the moments where it felt like we weren’t accomplishing anything we sought Him and kept walking out what we heard Him say. And He honored that by giving us more to be faithful in.
Following Him looks a lot like walking off the side of a tall mountain hoping the parachute works. And this month was no exception. And it was the most exhilarating ride ever.
10/10 would recommend.
Side note: the entire squad is doing this next month. And the next month. Wild ride ahead!!
