India was the last place I wanted to go. It was the last place I wanted to spend my birthday and the very last place I wanted to invite my parents to join me in my World Race experience.
BUT, from the first moment I heard of the opportunity to invite my parents, I knew the Lord intended for both of my parents to be a part of this experience. I knew He intended this to be a big week for myself and my family, but I wouldn’t discover just how life changing it would actually be until walking through it.
The Parent Vision Trip concluded my eighth month on the World Race and was by far the most life changing week to date. I have never before seen more of the Lord in such a small amount of time.
The day before our parents arrived, we did a bit of listening prayer where we asked the Lord:
1) What did He want from me during this time?
2) What did He want from my parents?
3) And what did He want from us collectively?
And the Lord answered me very simply:
1) To be myself and trust Him
2) To see Him
3) Willingness
Then we were told the week would be full of surprises and to expect the Lord to show up.
The World Race has been full of surprises so I thought I was ready for just about anything and I fully expected the Lord to show up because of the excitement and anticipation He had given me for this week from before the race even began last July, but I had no idea how much He would surprise me and show up for me personally.
The very next day our parents arrived, exhausted and overwhelmed by the culture shock. It was all so surreal as we saw our parents for the first time in almost nine months.
Because there were so many of us, we were divided into teams. The surprise came when I was named the team leader for our team. What?! I thought the Lord was taking leadership away from me. He has been teaching me about following and serving the entire race. He has been breaking and rebreaking me and molding and remolding me into who He created me to be. In the past, I thought He had created me to be a leader, but I had just finally reached the point of coming to terms with never being in leadership again. I failed so much in the past I thought maybe it was only a position I found myself in and the Lord had to spend all this time reshaping me into who I was really supposed to be.
I found myself on a team of all great leaders, men and women of the Lord who I deeply admire and respect and who even intimidate me at times… and their parents. Ok, so they only really expected me to relay information and make sure everyone got on and off the buses, but if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right or not at all. I was so nervous. But, the Lord had just told me to be myself and to trust Him. Ok, Lord. Here goes nothing.
Our first morning of ministry, I was told we needed to prepare a message of the gospel and a testimony to share at the slum that day. As soon as I was informed, I knew Jake needed to share the testimony and that Zack or I needed to share the message, but really I knew I was supposed to speak; I just didn’t want to. I don’t speak in front of groups and I had no time to prepare. So, I do what anyone would do and ask the team if any of them felt led to share. The only volunteer? Jake. Perfect. Ok, God. I trust You.
Right before worship, one of the Parent Vision Trip leaders asked me to share a 10 minute testimony before all of the racers and parents the next morning. What happened to the original 2-3 minute testimonies we talked about? However, I knew the Lord wanted me to share. Ok, God. I trust You.
During worship the Lord spoke two verses to me to confirm I was who He wanted to share the gospel message that day. During that time He also confirmed that was the day I needed to have a hard conversation with my parents. I knew I needed to share more of my story of what my past looked like and how the Lord healed me, but I had no idea what to say or how the conversation would look.
During our parent/racer time immediately after worship, I found myself sharing every last detail of my sins (and the sins committed against me) with my parents. It was then I realized they needed to know how bound I was by my sin and how the Lord freed me if they were ever going to find freedom themselves. So there I sat, on a sidewalk in India pouring out my deepest, darkest secrets to my parents just to find Jesus in the love and gentleness of their responses. There were tears and hugs and so much Jesus in that moment. It was in that moment that I was truly set free to be me, to be the Lord’s daughter just as He made me to be.
Because of that conversation, I had no time to prepare a message. In all these months, I have only spoken before others once before on the race and that was to share the gospel with the students my team and I were teaching English to in Cambodia. I had every last word typed out on my tablet and read it word for word as it was translated. This time I had two verses marked in my Bible and nothing else. I was so nervous, but as soon as I stood up in front of the group and began speaking, the Lord’s indescribable peace came over me and words came out of my mouth. It was the most incredible experience to have the Lord speak through me and know I could take none of the credit for myself.
The next morning, I was to share my testimony and all I had was a song playing through my mind that spoke to me of all the Lord has done. “I finally found where I belong…” I have never even prayed before our squad before and here I was to share what the Lord has done in my life on the World Race thus far before about 50 racers and parents. I had no idea what to share or how to share it. I was so nervous I was shaking uncontrollably until the moment I stood before the group. As soon as I stood up and opened my mouth, the Lord’s peace, again, came over me and He spoke through me of what He had done in my life. I still have no idea what words actually came out of my mouth that morning, but the Lord was there and it was absolutely amazing.
I hate speaking in front of people and promised the Lord I would never speak of Him unless He gave me the message to speak and sure enough, He did. To God be ALL the glory.
This was a week of my parents seeing the Lord unlike ever before.
It was a week of me seeing the Lord unlike ever before. I have never been more myself than the me I discovered this week. I was given a glimpse of the validity of things the Lord put deep in my heart years ago that seemed too far beyond anyone I could ever be. I discovered a freedom I had yet to know until this point. The Lord was in every moment of every day and it was such a thrilling adventure to trust Him and then watch Him show up in everything He asked of me and more.
This was a week of healing and freedom and restoration and sharing in the joy of all the Lord was doing in myself, my family, my squadmates and their families.
I couldn’t imagine my race without this short time to share it with my parents. With God, ALL things are possible.
He has come to bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free. He has come that we may have life and have it abundantly and He will do absolutely everything it takes for us to find our freedom and life and hope and peace and strength and sufficiency in Him.
Was the Parent Vision Trip worth it?
YES.
Was I afraid of what it would look like and how my parents would respond?
Absolutely YES.
Invite your parents anyway. Then trust the Lord to do what only He can do. Just remember, our hope must be in Him and not in a result. He will always complete the work He begins. We do not always see it, but the work is always there. The Lord is good. Always.
