What is this life i live?

I guess it’s about time that I write a blog about the past
6 weeks of my life. I feel completely blessed to be able to travel the entire
country raising awareness about the Kenya Initiative and what the next 2 years
of my life will be looking like. But that wasn’t the best part of the road
trip. God wanted to do a lot more than just have us share what He is doing in
Kenya… and that is the best part about the Lord, we have NO IDEA what He has up
His sleeve. But I just wanted to share a little about what He decided to teach
me along the way.

First stop… OHIO… my hometown.

I was super anxious about my hometown, just trying to
juggle having the team at my house, getting time with my family, trying to put
on a 5K race, etc… I think the Lord reminded me that He sees ALL. That I don’t
have to tell Him my worries or thoughts because He already knows them. This
week couldn’t have gone any better. The Lord took it from me and made it
something that I wasn’t even prepared for. I love that my God JUST KNOWS what
is going on in my head and my heart, and He makes it into something that I
could never imagine. We made about $16,000 too in OH, which was a miracle in
itself.

Next… MICHIGAN…

In Michigan, the Lord reminded me that He likes to work
last minute and keep us on our toes. The Michigan race had 15 participants
signed up for the longest time… slowly it increased, but not until the day of
the race did it just skyrocket, and everyone who signed up… showed up! It was
so cool to see how God works last minute and how sometimes the smallest thing,
can turn into a big thing. 

COLORADO…

26 straight hours in the car has never tested my patience
so much. Colorado taught me patience and perseverance. All of our contacts fell
through in CO, so we didn’t know where we were going to stay until the night
of. Now if you know me, this stresses me out. But the Lord taught me that there
are going to be times where I just need to push through and that even in the
midst of hardship, He is STILL teaching.The Lord taught our team that we need to be a team, and really come together as one unit.

LAS VEGAS…

This was probably one of the heaviest places I have been.
Just to see this dark presence over everywhere we went. But the Lord kept telling me over and over, “I still LOVE them.� I think my
heart was broken for these people in that this is all that some of them know.

And now for… sunny SAN DIEGO…

The importance of relationship. Yep, that’s what I learned
here. It was so awesome to see so many people supporting what we were doing…
people that didn’t even really know us, but came alongside of this vision. It
really is about who you do life with and about the relationships that you build
along the way. Because without relationship, and impacting people, what you do
is pointless. 

GRAND CANYON…

We were so fortunate enough to visit the Grand Canyon
along the way back. I have never seen anything in my life so beautiful. Sitting
on the side of and the canyon wall and looking out on all the crevasses and
just smiling… God loves us so much to give us this to look at. Incredible.

NEW MEXICO… and the white sands…

I think I realized at the white sands, that even in the
desert there is beauty. This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever
been, and it is in the middle of the desert. It’s crazy because EVERYTHING that
the Lord makes and creates is BEAUTIFUL. There are NO exceptions. Just sitting
in the sand and running it through my fingers, I was just in awe of the God
that I serve and that He knows even the number of these grains of sand.

LUMBERTON… final stop. 

The coolest part of Lumberton, was recapping on all the
families that I got to meet, and really get to know where my team came from. It
was so interesting to me… I got to see a different side of my team and why they
are the way that they are. It made me appreciate them more, and love them in a
deeper way. 

 

I think overall, I am just so thankful for an opportunity
to travel a beautiful country, to see God’s creation, to do it with people I
love and care about, and to experience things that will really prepare us for
Kenya. So, it was way more than the 5K’s, it was a life experience that has
shaped me.