So, as you may imagine with a trip like the World Race, this
life is full of lessons. Lessons
about yourself, lessons about God, lessons about others, lessons about
culture….etc. It seems like no
matter the season that you walk into, there is always something new to learn,
and I have to say, I quite enjoy it! My mom has always said ” I want to die in transition”, and I have come
to believe that living a life of learning lessons is just the way to accomplish
that.
The purpose of this blog is to share with you one of the
more recent lessons that God has been teaching me. This blog is about family!
As some of you may know, for the last 2 months I have been
taking a fast from any communication from all family and friends back home. Although this fast has made these last 2
months some of the hardest since I have been on the race, they have also been
some of the most rewarding…. God has shown through in so many different ways.
One of the ways in which God has been “about” me through
this fast is by teaching me the value of family. On the World Race we are placed into smaller teams, which
become our family for the duration of the race. We don’t choose who we are with, and therefore we are asked
to trust the leadership who is earnestly seeking God about “who belongs with
whom”. After “families” are
chosen, you are asked to do life together for the next 11 months… The Good, The
Bad, The Ugly, and THE AWESOME.
This, I began to realize, is very similar to the process in
which God places us into our biological families, and even, in some cases, our
church families. As I thought of
this more and more, and began to look at the people that God has placed in my
life, both for this season of the race, and beforehand… I couldn’t help but stand
in awe.
I would like you to please take a moment and think of your
family, whether near or far, biological or not. Think about these people, and then think of this…. Of all
the people that God could place you with, He placed you with those people.
For me this train of thought has both challenged, humbled,
and brought me to tears of thankfulness. I have an amazing family, and as I began to think about the fact that
God could have chosen any set of people to place me with, and then ask me to do
life with, He chose the people that he has placed in my life. In that light of thankfulness, I began
to see that I have been taking for granted the people that God has surrounded
me with.
I have become too familiar… in the bad way….the way of not
realizing or appreciating exactly who God CHOSE to place you with.
This challenged me to love them better… not that this means
“rainbows and kittens” all the time, or that life with family should never have
its’ problems. On the contrary I
have come to learn that healthy conflict can strengthen a relationship when
handled with respect, preference and honor. But it has challenged me to look at my family, both here on
the race, and back home in Michigan, with a new kind of respect, thankfulness,
and awe… for they truly are amazing… a gift from God, in which I have too often
have forgotten to say “thank you”.
So to my family……..I LOVE YOU! I’M SO THANKFUL FOR YOU,
and I’M PROUD TO CALL YOU MINE!!!!!
