After driving approximately 42 hours from Swaziland to Cape Town, we made it to Month 11. That’s right, Month 11, of The World Race. It’s hard to believe that this month has already come. So much has happened that it feels like I’ve lived at least 10 years of in the last 10 months, yet the time has flown as if it’s been a blink of an eye.
We’ve already lived a quite a bit of life in Ocean View. We are living in a beautiful location in our own home. We’ve got hot water. A bed. An oven. All things a bit foreign to a World Race team on Month 11.
We’ve run into another World Race squad on the train (N Squad!). Walked the neighborhood and the harbor. And watched Obama and his crazy entourage drive by… not once, but twice. He was visiting just a ten-minute drive from our home!
We begin ministry tomorrow. Teaching preschool and hopefully gymnastics! If you know me, you know that is a massive passion of mine! I feel blessed to be here fore the final month of the race.
I already feel this weird limbo. It’s month 11. One month from today, I’ll be on American soil. I’m so close to home yet still on the race. Thinking of the future yet trying not to think of it too much, cherishing every single moment.
Throughout the race I’ve seen the miraculous. Even before the race I saw the miraculous. I’ve seen God provide thousands of dollars. I’ve seen Him heal a dear friend of a complicated case of malaria. I’ve seen Him melt the heart of others as well as melting my heart only to heal it and make it more like His. I’ve seen what life to the full is, serving my God and living in His plan for my life. I’ve seen every month as a gift, living simply.
I’ve seen these things yet…
Yet, my heart becomes anxious as I think about what is next. I’ve seen Him provide, yet I fear that He won’t in the future. The fear of going back to America sometimes consumes my thoughts, when I don’t want it too. I don’t have a car, how is God going to provide that? What about that place to live that I cannot afford rent? Or how about school tuition… enough said. And if I don’t have a car how am I going to get a job? And that internship… it costs thousands of dollars. What about the phone bill? Insurance?
Do I not think that my God is big enough? Have I learned nothing this year, to see that in fact, He is the God of this world?
My God is in fact big enough. Jesus came to conquer death. He came to wipe away our sin. He came so that we, human beings, could have a living, breathing relationship with the God of the Universe. He came so that we might, we might have life to the full. Satan, in his wicked attempt to rob me of my time on the race and of the future has no place in the will of God. Satan has no say in the plans of a daughter of the King.
Jesus is my provider. I’ve seen Him care for me and I’ve seen Him care for His children from the nations. I’ve seen the blessings of living simply and living in community. He’s provided every step of the way. He’s never let me down and He never will.
I’ve come to understand what is really important in this life. Not the car or the job or the degree or the house.
It’s my God and His people that matter.
And though the prospect of leaving the race is daunting. And the plagues of America overwhelm me. If my God is calling me back there for a season I’m going to believe that He is going to provide. Going home is going to take faith. Massive steps of faith. But I don’t have to fear. I don’t have to fear because I’ve walked intimately with God around the world. I know Him at His Word and I know that I can trust Him. I could’ve never made it to Month 11 if it wasn’t for Jesus guiding me and carrying me every step of the way.
I invite you to pray with me. Pray with me as I finish this month. Pray with me as I re-enter American culture. Pray that I would speak boldly of the things I’ve seen. And pray that I would cherish every day giving Him my all.
I will follow Him, whatever it means. He will not delay. He will come through always.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
Jeremiah 31:3
