I have a month left on the race.
Woah.
I’ve been getting the question, “What are you going to be doing when you go home?” from both people in Guatemala and people back home. So here is my answer to you all on the other side of the screen so that we can both save some time.
I don’t know. I have no plans.
I don’t plan on going to college at the moment. I don’t have a job lined up. I don’t have any plans to jump right back in the overseas missions field. I’m not engaged to be married. I’m not on the verge of becoming a millionaire with some incredible invention. I just have absolutely no plans.
To some of you, you are probably thinking I’m going to bum around for a while. My answer to that is dear Lord, I hope not (I will be looking for a job). To be honest, I thought over these nine months God would show me a clear path for my life and what He wanted me to do next. I have seen it happen with a lot of squamates and with people who have gone on the World Race in the past. But that’s a huge misconception, just because you leave your home for nine months does not mean you will know what to do next.
There are things that God has deepened in me such as desires that I have that align with His. So I decided to make declaration for my life, that no matter what I do I will always be in His will and pursuing Him first. I wrote it out on a piece of paper and over the past month or so have been finding verses that line up with the things God put on my heart. I haven’t officially written the whole declaration up on my laptop yet, but I’ll list some of the bullet points here.
- Use my hands to work the earth and bless others with it’s fruits (Gen. 1:29)
- Allow prayer & worship to fill all the cracks of my life
- Put time with my Creator above all things. If I am too busy for Him, then something has to change (Eph. 5:16)
- Open my home to all at all times (Rom. 12:13, 1 Pet. 4:9, Heb. 13:16)
- Spend my time learning & growing, not just trying yo entertain myself (Eph. 5:16)
- Always have food on the table for others (Luke 9:13-17)
- Let my speech always exalt Him with every person & in every situation (Phil. 2:14, Eph. 4:29, Psalm 34:13)
- Acknowledge Sunday as the Sabbath & a time to commune with other believers
- Watch what I put into my mind when I watch & read (Luke 11:34)
- Realize that money is a gift from God & that I should use it to glorify Him
- Put others before myself (Phil. 2:3-4)
- Use my gifts to exalt Him (1 Tim. 4:14)
- Love all of His children
These bullet points are all I have planned right now for when I get home. In short (or long), God has deepened my desire for hospitality & for Him. He has shown me what hospitality looks like all over the world. He has shown me that hospitality is possible even if you don’t own a home, you just need to be willing. There are other big picture things that God has put on my heart, but those things will have to come later down the road.
So when I get home, I plan on taking what I learned on the mission field and applying it to home, because home is my next mission field. I will trust God in knowing He has my next step and I will love Him & others along the way.
