Like most finish lines, I am at a place of celebration. However celebration does not mean that there were not challenges faced, instead there were challenges that were overcome. When the sun was beating down or my muscles felt like they were too weak to continue I didn’t give up. I finished. At the beginning of the Worldrace our leaders asked each of us to reflect on challenges and celebrations every week we would submit them. More often than not I would see how God used that challenge to create a celebration. So I would like to share with you a few C and C’s of my Worldrace.
5 Challenges turned Celebrations of the Worldrace
- Truly loving my team
- There came a point where I just felt like I lived with my team too long. It became easy to justify a bad attitude, “well too bad, what do they expect they are with me 24/7.” But that was a dangerous place because when I didn’t care how I was treating others that I lived with, how could I genuinely care about ministry? I began to ask God to teach me about unconditional love. I know that it is a common phrase that we hear in the church, but I needed a revelation of how to love my team without condition. Surrendering my emotions at times and being willing to just love. I actually cannot say that I perfected that among my team, but only by the grace of God was I able to treat others with kindness. My teams shared many moments of joy and love while doing ministry and during our free time. I am proud to say that I served alongside those ladies.
- Being bold
- There was a point in the race when our leaders challenged us to “be risky.” We called this risk because it is being willing to stay tuned into to the Holy Spirit and move when he tells you to move. To share the gospel at an inopportune moment, or the take time to change my schedule to feed a woman who asked for help. It is moments like these where I needed to be bold and not fear rejections from others, including my team. It was always a challenge because there is that voice in the back of my head asking, what others will think. I have one example where God empowered me to be bold. Kegan and I went to the corner store and were hoping to find a good snack, I was decidedly on a diet and I watched as she paid for a package of cookies. A man heard us speaking English and asked where we were from, apparently he had spent some time living in the states. We shared some small talk and Kegan started heading out the door. However in that short conversation the man had shared with me that he had a disease in his eye and the doctors can’t fix it, he is going blind. I called to Kegan who was already on the street and told her that I wanted to pray for our new friend. I asked him if I could pray for him and right there in the store we prayed. I’m sure that people stared, but I am also sure that it was more important to show support and care to this man.
- Doing ministry when it’s too hard
- Every month I had to have open hands as far as where I was living and what I was doing. Our vision was to be helpful to the vison that our host already had and the work toward achieving that. Sometimes the things we were asked to do seemed too hard. My first experience with that was when I was in Thailand and my team worked in “bar ministry” (making relationships with prostitutes and trafficked victims) it was an emotionally trying and I didn’t feel like I could actually do it. However it was evident that this was the place God wanted me. I saw his hand leading, guiding and giving me support so that I could support others. It didn’t end there but it was just the beginning of God showing me that he could help me to do the impossible.
- Reopening my heart to each country
- Every month was a very different experience, and we had to quickly transition from one country to the next. At times I coveted the months of prayer and preparation that generally goes a short term trip. It was a challenge for me to constantly say goodbye and hello, especially in months where my team changed as well. However I experienced God giving me the grace to do it. He opened my heart again and again and allowed me to love more than I expected. At the start of month 11 I was seriously praying because I felt so close to home, and I didn’t know if I could give it my all. The first day we met the kids at the feeding program a three year old girl crawled into my lap. She was content and she even responded a bit to my broken Spanish. Later our host told me that she normally isn’t friendly with new people. That’s how I knew that God was answering my prayer, he was giving me the ability to share His love with others, and His love was all I needed.
- Being hungry
- This last challenge is incredibly practical, but also very serious. Month 5 someone told me that she was afraid of being hungry. I thought about that, and I have to agree that it is true for me as well. Our very first travel day I was unable to buy much food within the budget and I remember feeling so hungry and thinking, I guess we signed up to experience what people in these countries experience. Hunger is a reality for people across the world. I’m not saying that I want to be hungry but it did help me at time to be out of my comfort zone and also to be thankful for a full belly. (I should note, I was never extensively hungry and I did eat regularly).
There are so many more things to process and think through, here is just a start and I hope that it helps you to understand a bit of what God was teaching me this past year.
