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I have been traveling the world for the past two years with my best friend.
He pushes me to love Jesus in ways I have never thought possible.
When we are together crazy things happen with the Kingdom that I can not explain.
I feel called to serve with him for the rest of my life.
We both have a strong pull for the UK.
Coming on the race I knew I would have to wait a year to date this man.
So I did.
That does not change the way that God has brought our hearts closer together over the course of the race.
Before leaving Swaziland, I was told by a former World Racer. “You are entering into month 8… that is the number for new beginnings in the Word”.
I was not really sure what all this meant, but I knew God had crazy plans in store for this month.
I fell in love with the UK.
I fasted with Jacob the fellow racer and over a very long list of 26 questions for God…
My best friend from home called me one night so flustered with things and told me she had been praying for us to do ministry together again.
God started sending me job offers for the summer that I was turning down for the race.
I was getting more confused because I felt that what God was showing me and what the world was asking were two different things.
8 is also the unplanned number that both me and Jacob fasted for dealing with the list.
I had to tell God to simply open doors and slam others.
The fast answered so many prayers so evidently.
-God if you want us to go to the UK take care of debts! The next day Jake is fully funded by the leader of the team going to the UK
-God will you show provision for us? Two random people on the streets handed us money because God told them too.
-God is there anything in me you need to rid me off that is not good for future generations? That night I was in a car with a man with pulled over the car to tell me that my future generations are in a good place because I am striving for holiness.
Then came the last day of the fast, we were both pulled into an office and told we have been “fasting, praying, and reading the bible together too much.” In short by weeks end Jake and I had been forbidden to be friends, and the only reason given was we were too spiritual. So we spent a week praying and asked for more details only to find out while AIM recognized Jake and I have a healthy and spiritually great relationship that encourages the people around us, it is inconsistent of the organization to allow one couple to date and others not too so they can’t allow it anymore.
This put us in an awkward position because by the time they pulled the plug, Jake and I have become really committed. So yesterday Jake and I skyped the AIM staff and after many talks with our parents, and the staff. The decision was made that it would be impractical and unrealistic to make us “Break-up.” That would be counterintuitive to the direction of marriage but the opposite would be living unable to submit to our authorities. So after a good conversation we all agreed the best step would be pursuing the next phase of life.
We prayed…
-What about the donation for Jake? When we told the recent donor who gave large funds, the donor said that she did not give the money for him to stay on the race, but because God needed to answer a prayer.
-What about my parents? During the parent trip my mom came to a full support, knowing that I hear from God in the Word.
-What about AIM? When I told my boss about the confusion she was so happy and supportive and she knows that God brought me and Jake together for the Kingdom. I was seriously shocked by how much she was FOR us.
I reconsidered the job offers and one of them was to work for another organization this summer. I came to the realization that this is also an answer to my best friend’s prayers, and a chance for she and Jake and my sister to build a stronger connection because those two will also be working for them.
So yes, my race is not ending, it is merely changing routes.
“ I’m coming America sooner than expected. Not because I don’t love the race. Not because I’m homesick. Not because I don’t love my ministry here. Not because I don’t love the community I have here. But because Jesus asked me to, and I always want to say “yes” to an invitation from the God of the Universe and the Lover of my Soul, no matter where that “yes” may lead.” a fellow racer
I believe that God calls you to people and not places, and the Squad I have raced with these past 8 months has shown me so much love with the announcement to possibly leaving that I really did not know what to do with it.
They even cried because they said they want to spend race with us, but they knew where God is leading.
So that is that. I am going to be leaving the race 2 months early, to continue ministry, just somewhere else.
My brain is still processing a lot, but I have a strange amount of peace because I know that God has his hand all over it. My team leader told me today that God does not call anyone to 11 months, but He calls you to the day by day, then she gave me the following verse that God gave her last week…
Jeremiah 29:14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
It is crazy to think that God is sending us both back to our roots. But yeah, I am asking for some serious prayer in all of this.
I have received so much support about the race that it brings me to literal tears just thinking about it.
The hardest part about this is having to tell the people who prayed and provided for me that I am finishing early. But ministry is not ending. God calls you to people and not places, and right now He has different people in store for me than I have had in mind. Again, thank you for all of your support.
I know this might all be a little confusing, so if you need to ask questions and talk I am always available.
“Let us run with perseverance… THE RACE THAT IS MARKED OUT FOR US”.
