The other day I decided I needed to get a haircut before I left for The Race. I didn’t want to make a drastic change but I wanted something a little different and more manageable than what I had. After browsing Pinterest I found a style and length I liked. I knew exactly what I wanted. I thought.
I arrived at the salon and showed my stylist the picture of what I wanted. She looked a me an gave me suggestions on how I could make the style better suite me and my needs while I am on the race unable to style my hair.
( Note: I realize that I will be going to places where just the idea of styling my hair and doing my makeup will most likely not be an option nor will it matter to the people we will be serving, but sometimes a girls just gotta be girlie.)
I decided to give up control and take my stylist’s advice giving her free reign to chop my locks as she saw fit.
A half an hour later I was primped and pampered. As I look at myself in the mirror and ran my hands through my hair I realized how much hair had actually been chopped off. It definitely was not what I was expecting….it was better.
On my drive home I took time to reflect. I remembered what I thought 2013 would bring for me this time last year. I thought it would be a year of adventure and excitement. I though maybe the relationship I had been in would be taken to the next step in 2013. When the exact opposite happened, I thought maybe 2013 would be a great time to remain single and set out on the winding road of ‘self discovery’. I began looking at new hobbies I may be interested in taking up. I tossed around ideas of moving out of my parents’ house or saving money for travel. I enrolled in another semester at community college and changed jobs. A year I once thought would be full of childhood dreams coming true and certainty, became yet another year of set backs, broken dreams, broken hearts and uncertainty of what lies ahead of me.
2013 became the year I didn’t get exactly what I wanted, but like my new haircut, the end result is better. Some dreams were broken this year. There were many disappointments, and my plans- well, God must have been amused when He heard my plans for this year. He knew what He had planned for me this year. He knew that I would be forced to make new dreams, ones that kept my eyes on Him. Dreams led me to The World Race.
God calls us to fix our eyes upon him. To follow His lead and not worry about what we will be doing next.
I love this quote from How I Met Your Mother (love that show!): “…first of all my parents live in Ohio. I live in the moment.”
At WR training camp back in October, we were told to have no expectations for this journey. As of right now I am funded up until the next deadline in April. I have no expectations that I will meet that deadline and stay on The Race. I also have no expectations of leaving The Race early either. Not that I won’t be trying to fundraise while I am on The Race but I will let God lead me to where He wants me to go next. I will learn to live in the moment and enjoy and absorb what God has for me to learn and enjoy.
In 2014 I will TRUST.
