When told that we were required to write this blog, I didn’t know where to even begin. How did the World Race change my life? How do I in an intelligent, coherent way describe the things that have taken place these past 9 months?
I can’t. I can’t tell you in a way that would do any of this justice. Yet, I wanna give credit to ABBA and the things that he’s done. This blog isn’t my last, isn’t simply a fact sheet. It’s to give you some hard facts about what God has done in this year in my life. Just a highlight reel.
SWAZILAND:
•God stripped me of entitlement.
•I experienced freedom from shame and guilt for the first time and got to stand up for my sisters in Christ.
•I saw people understand for the first time that they are not too far gone for the Lord.
•I saw the joy of the Lord from the laughter of every smiling kiddo at our carepoint.
•I saw the devotion and love and utter praise people have for the Lord.
•I saw prayers answered
•I saw darkness flee in the name of the Holy one.
* I saw people come to accept the love of Christ for the first time!!
* I saw the power of the Holy Spirit and how language has no barrier.
* I saw the beauty of simplicity and how we should strive harder for it.
* I learned that I’m not promised a spouse and that ultimately my faith shouldn’t be put in the hope of another person.
* I learned about gifts of grace! HOSPITALITY MAN!!! I learned that hospitality is so much more than just the casserole mentality.
NEPAL
•I saw people accept and come to know the Lord.
* I got to meet a man in the Himalayas who had died and come back to life.
* I got to see a brother in Christ learn that the Lord speaks to him through visions!
* I saw people healed!
* I learned that idols are so empty and hopeless and that our God is one of eternal hope.
* I became friends with so many, but never got to share the gospel with them, but I did get the chance to love them.
* I got to share part of my testimony to a room full of girls who had been rescued from sex trafficking / or domestic violence. God redeeming painful parts of my story and using the ugly for his good; he turns our ashes into beauty!
* A woman from a leprocy colony accepting the Lord into her heart!
* Spending Christmas in a church outside of Kathmandu with one of the best families. Seeing people that week who were only 14,15,18 years old being the only believers in their house and worshiping God with their whole being.
* Being able to share the gospel with a woman, and her accepting the Lord!
* Sharing the gospel and being completely safe, then the police shutting down the program 5 minutes later. (Nepal is a closed country, meaning that it is illegal to openly evangelize.)
INDIA
•Seeing over 2,000 children worshiping the Lord and learning about Paul and to not be ashamed of the gospel.
* A man healed of going deaf in one ear.
* Truth and hope being brought to the forgotten and those viewed as “too far gone.”
* Struggled with comparison with forming relationships with locals, yet the Lord blessing me with breakthrough in the last 5 days and seeing the fruit of my labor.
* Not developing lice!
* Helping build a church.
* Dealing with sickness for 2 and a half weeks, while being bed ridden for a solid 5 days.
* Having 3 squad members go home.
GUATEMALA:
•Learning that God does in fact speak to me!
•Being mentored and taking in and loved as family by the staff.
•Teaching four sixth-grade classes and falling in love with teaching and seeing God’s love in each of my students.
•Praying for geriatric ministry after realizing in Swaziland that the Lord has placed it heavy on my heart, and being the only team with any type of geriatric ministry!
•Men, women, and children accepting the Lord for the first time and his love!
* A man accepting Jesus into his heart in a Catholic church.
* Dealing with what the future has for me and finding peace with the unknowns.
* Being able to install stoves and water filters for families.
* Working in a garden and teaching a class full of children and adults English.
* God redeeming friendships.
* Healing!
* Finding peace that faith is life long and this is a journey.
* Finding passion for language and feeling the presence of the Lord.
* Embracing the beauty of relationships and having our hearts broken and allowing ourselves to feel.
Etc.
This is the bare minimum when it comes to the past 261 days of my World Race. Truthfully, the World Race wasn’t what changed me. It wasn’t the flashy and trendy Instagram pictures that are posted. It was messy, complicated, heartbreaking, lonely, and just plain hard. Yet, it was completely worth it. It was rewarding, redemption, healing, covered in freedom, beautiful, joyful, and ordained. God changed me. He just used this trip, organization, the countries, and the people to do so. All of this experience has been him. He’s been in every mountain top high and every dark valley. The world Race was just the vessel that God used to jumpstart the journey of my faith, my mission, and my walk with him, and for that… I’m forever grateful for the World Race and this year.
Another blog will follow actually processing and explaining my goodbyes.
With love, a cup of coffee, messy hair, and a soul always in progress,
Grace
