My team is doing unsung heroes ministry this month, which means we have traveled the entire country looking for new contacts for our world race organization to work with in the future. Now this is such an amazing opportunity that I believe every team should experience, but I have been quite distracted this month.
Everyone has talked about unsung being one of their favorite months for so many reasons. Whether it be traveling around the country, seeing pretty views, finding new contacts for future world racers to work with, or being free spirits for the whole month- I on the other hand have found it to be a more difficult one.
December came out of nowhere and it’s hard to believe that it’s Christmas Eve already. It feels like just yesterday I was at training camp not knowing what I was getting myself into. This month I have seen some of the most amazing places and have actually gotten to experience the whole country of Malawi. I know all of this sounds so amazing, which it is, but let me explain a bit how this month looked for myself.
We hit the halfway mark of the race about two weeks ago. People always told us that racers tend to start ‘checking out’ of the race around month 6 because it’s easy to do (homesickness, holidays, etc.). Unfortunately, that happened a bit for me. We traveled up the country and spent a lot of our month around lake Malawi. This was the first time where I felt like I was diving into real life again. We were eating great food, meeting new people, and living life. It freaked me out if I’m honest with y’all. It gave me a glimpse into what life would be like when I got home. I started listening to lies of the enemy that told me I was going to go home and go back to the way I was living before I left for the race- selfishly and not growing a whole lot with The Lord. It was so easy to get distracted by the beauty and creation around me, but it was all a distraction and facade by the enemy. I started to become really quiet with my team and I tried to internally process everything that was going on (if you know me you’re aware that I’m an external processor). I finally hit a wall where I wasn’t hearing from God, or at least not listening for Him. It was really cool talking with an old teammate about what I was going through and she spoke a lot of truth into me because I wasn’t listening to what Jesus was trying to tell me. I was struggling with giving and receiving grace, loving my teammates, and listening to God firsthand.
I’ve come to realize that the race is not my life, but it’s preparing me for who I’m supposed to be for the rest of my life. If I were to check out here I would miss out on everything God had for me and that’s not what I want at all. I also know that if I waste time believing lies about myself that aren’t true, then I will also be worse off. It’s really cool how gracious The Lord is, and how faithful he continues to be. He’s never far even when we feel far from Him. He’s always perusing and chasing after an intimate relationship with us. The coolest part of all of this is having a team who is so loving and encouraging. I wouldn’t have gotten through this month without them.
Overall the past few weeks has been challenging spiritually but I have learned and grown a lot from them. It’s opened my eyes to realizing that there will always be distractions that will try to keep me from The Lord but that’s when we need to seek after Him the most. If we never struggled or felt lost and confused, why would we need God? A lot of us are getting a little homesick during the holidays but He has prepared us and our families for being away. I’m blessed to be spending the holidays with my new family of racers 🙂
Happy holidays from my race family to yours!
Love,
Katie
