I’ve been on my new team (team name Same Same), for one week and I’ve been thinking a lot about why God placed me with these specific people. While emailing one of my friends back home, something occurred to me. God wanted me with these individuals to teach me how to stay true to who God made me and to stand firm on my principles, even when I’m standing alone. Looking back I can see how God has slowly transitioned me to this point of being confident in my values. My first team, Nooma, consisted of people with many ideals similar to mine. We were different enough to stretch each other and alike enough that we worked well as a team. In the areas that we did differ, I learned acceptance and they pushed me to broaden my horizons. The first three months on the Race with Nooma helped to challenge me more in loving people different from myself and understanding that freedom looks different for every person.
On my next team, Rebound, the Lord used people on my squad to encourage me to speak out and share what God has laid on my heart. It became a common theme over months five and sixth. The first time I can remember talking to my team about an area of improvement for us, each member came up later and thanked me for calling it out. Then in Thailand I shared with the girls of my squad what God had laid on my heart for the women in the bars of the Red Light District. Each time I spoke out, I gained more confidence. Through this process I also discovered that I really enjoy bible studies and fostering discussion about life and the Lord.
Being with Same Same for just over a week God is teaching me to stand firm as the woman God made me and that speaking my heart can bless my team abundantly. Something my squad leader, Paul, said this past week struck me. He said I am a better version of myself on each new team. I was the product of my first team, Nooma, with my second team, Rebound; and now I am the product of Rebound with my new team Same Same. And looking back I see the truth in that statement so clearly. I get excited picturing who I will be at the end of this year once God has used three (or more) teams to work on me.
Ephesians 4:22-25 “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”
