10 days is all that separates me from a handful of plane rides that will take me back to South Carolina for the first time in 11 months. This World Race journey is less than two weeks from being over and while I am so excited to be back on US soil, I can’t believe that this thing that I planned for, prayed for, worked for, and dreamed of is over! This year, I’ve been to 11 different countries, worked with 11 different ministries, experienced mountain tops of joy and deeper sorrow than I have ever known. This year, I’ve fallen in love with people from all over the world. I’ve ministered and been ministered too. I’ve made friends that I know will be in my life for years to come. I’ve experienced the love of my Heavenly Father in familiar ways and also in brand new ways as He’s continued to refine and shape me this year. I’ve had dreams planted and watered that I know will be brought to reality someday. I’ve walked through some of the darkest places in the world this year and looked into the faces of people suffering in ways that I could never imagine. I’ve spent nights on cramped buses, in my tent in an African village, and on the floor of many schools and churches! I’ve ridden a ferry through the Filipino waters at 2 am and spent the night at a Honduran police station on the side of a mountain. I’ve washed my clothes in buckets and thrown my toilet paper in the trash can. I’ve held countless children, sung more songs than I ever have before, danced, painted, written, run through city streets in the rain, jumped off of cliffs, swam through rapids, had hard conversations and ones that ended in tears of laughter. I’ve fallen deeper in love with the Lord and through Him, His people. I wouldn’t change a moment of it.
The more that I think about the ending of this year, the more that the Lord has pointed out that it is actually a beginning. Yes, this physical life style that I am living is coming to an end. I will no longer pick up and move to a new country every few weeks and wash my clothes in buckets and have team time every night. But I will continue to grow in relationship with Jesus. The lessons that I have learned and the areas that have been refined this year will still be there in 11 days in South Carolina. They won’t cease to exist just because I’m not overseas. The way that I talk to, serve, and love people won’t change. The way that I pursue the Lord and the way that He pursues me will not change. This year has been all about giving up myself and embracing a lifestyle of humility. It’s been about laying aside my pride and my ego in favor of someone else, ultimately of the Lord. That doesn’t change just because I’m in the States. God is the same in the states as He is in Africa, or Asia, or Central America. My surroundings change but who I am and who the Lord is doesn’t change.
This month, I’ve been asked how I feel about going home more times than I can count! And to answer that question honestly, I am genuinely excited and full of so much peace and anticipation for the future! It will be difficult. I know that there will be emotions that will hit out of nowhere, there will be things to process, things from this year that I miss, people that I miss. This year has ceased to be a trip for me and has simply been a year of my life. As outrageous as it sounds, this lifestyle has become normal. But, I can’t wait for the next season of life and to take the things that I have learned and grown in this year into the things that the Lord has for me next! Life doesn’t end when I get back home, it just continues in a different direction. Things about me have changed but who I am has not because who I am is rooted in the Lord and He has never and will never change.
So here is to new beginnings! To continuing to love and pursue people from the other side of the world. To following the dreams and passions the Lord has given me. To walking forward in life with a renewed drive and purpose for the things that touch my heart. To loving my family in person instead of through a phone and getting to wake up and hug my dogs each day! This year has been a wild ride and it’s certainly not over yet!
