It has begun. The Kingdom is here and is explosive. We are coming! The Holy Spirit dwells within us and we will work mightily. All powers against us shall not stand! The devil is afraid of us, trying to stop us with all his power from going on the World Race. From whispering to our insecurities to cancelling our flights, he strives to put an end to our calling, but God’s will and power is stronger!
On Sunday, after church, I went home to find an email from United airlines stating that my flight Monday morning at 5:20 am to Atlanta was cancelled. I was understandably worried. Calling the airlines only resulted in a machine telling me that due to the volumes of calls, I cannot speak to a representative and to try again later. After several more calls over a period of a couple hours, my family and I made the decision to head to the airport a day early so we can speak with a human being about my options. By the Grace of God, when we arrived, the lines had not yet formed. My mother and I spoke with a United representative who informed us that there were no more flights to Atlanta from Seattle until the 9th of January, which, since I fly out to Guatemala on the 9th, wasn’t an option. So then I had a choice between flying into Alabama or South Carolina, both of which were considerable amounts of distance away from Atlanta. South Carolina was a wee bit closer than Alabama so I snagged a flight at 5:30 am on the 6th. I said my goodbyes to my family and went upstairs to the USO.
I am thankful to the Lord at this moment. Though I am technically not apart of the military for this next upcoming year, my military ID still works and I was allowed to stay in the USO overnight who provides free food and bunks for service members and their families. Also, I was able to notify AIM staff and my team leader, Isaiah, of the situation I was in. Isaiah encouraged me to speak again with a United representative to see if they can obtain a rental car for me or reimbursement for personal funds to travel to Atlanta as they could not. I went downstairs to try but the line had completely wrapped around the wall in a large 180 degrees. So I went to bed in the USO to try again in the morning.
While waiting in line the next morning, the Lord sent a United worker who was directing traffic my way. She was a true blessing. I mentioned my situation to her and she quickly said to see if they can get me on a different airline flight and quickly walked away. When I got to the podium I asked about this option and the United Representative kept running back and forth to the Delta podium to obtain a last minute seat for me on the straight to Atlanta flight at 1:22 pm on the 6th! I was so thankful!
When I arrived in Atlanta, I found out Isaiah was waiting to pick me up. I was grateful for I had no idea where to find the free transportation to our hotel. I am truly appreciative of my team.
I had arrived safely but Satan did not stop there. Several other people from my Squad and others were still stranded across the country and I was beginning to be plagued with insecurities; “I’m not ready, I don’t have money to pay my bills, obtain medication, or personal spending money, I don’t know Jesus well enough,” etc, etc. But the worse of all for me was, “I don’t want to disappoint my team.” I had a really strong urge to run from it all, yet I decided to be open about my thoughts and fears and found I wasn’t the only one scared, poor, and feeling lacking. Everyone is stepping up to help me out.
Yesterday, Bill Swann spoke at a session about identity that spoke directly to me. I am afraid to disappoint people, I want them to be happy with me and not cause them any problems, always had since I was a child. Bill questioned why we strived so hard for the approval of others. It was selfish to do so. We want others to like us, to tell us that we are fun, cool, and a good person. We are trying to find our identity and self-worth in others but it never works. We will fail at this. People will be angry and we wont always agree but that is alright. I do not need approval to dictate and affirm who I am. I only need to look to God for that. To him my identity is a righteous daughter, beautiful, full of personality, and his beloved!
I believe that this race will affirm who I am in Christ and show me how special I am to him and he to me. It will grow our relationship in ways unimaginable.
So Satan, your lies and antics failed. Everyone has arrived and God has blown away all doubts. You will not stop us; our foundation is the Lord who defeated you and our King is God who has authority over all of creation. Tremble, for we will not stop and will tear down your regime. You have already lost!
