My entire squad has gathered back together after three months on the field. We’re spending a few days on a beautiful beach on South Africa. We’ve come to pray, to laugh, to worship, and to… well, mourn.
No, no one has died or anything. It’s nothing like that.
You see, at the end of month three, every squad goes through a series of team changes. New squad leaders are raised up, new team leaders are chosen, and all of the teams scramble.
Simply put, we’re all here to mourn the loss of our old teams.
I know, “mourning”? It just sounds crazy, doesn’t it? We’ve known them for what, three months?
But these are the people we’ve just spent those three months living with (and usually in very tight corridors). They have been our comfort, our nurses, our partners-in-crime. They are the ones with us when we got kicked out of Chinese cities, when we were bent over a toilet for hours, and when we saw God move in ways we’d never even imagined.
And now, as each of us open a single piece of paper, all of that changes.
It’s almost like a really mean joke. Our one real sense of comfort and familiarity on this journey into the unknown, gone in an instant.
I sat on a bench overlooking the vast Atlantic Ocean as tears flooded my eyes. Of my team, of the women I had grown to love and adore, not a single one of them was on that piece of paper.
Five new names, all female, all completely new.
More tears. More cries to God. And then, He spoke: “ My daughter, I have this.”
I went into the initial lunch with my new teammates scared, worried of what they’d think of me, of my story. After lunch, we sat on couches and chatted. For hours.
My fears were calmed. My worries, erased. My hesitancy to embrace a new team, shattered by their love.
He has blessed me with the most incredible group of women to walk with. They are strong (both in faith and personality!), hilarious, and desperate to see the Kingdom come to earth. He knew what I needed even when I didn’t. My fears were nothing compared to His plan and His glory.
Just like He told me on that beach on South Africa: He has this.
team
Sound of Strength
Sara Norton (leader)
Britni Bersin
Kat Davis
Jessica Fischbach
Maggie Lavigne
Shannon Meador
