Everything about your race is about to change.
These are the words spoken by my squad leader, referring to
this next t month.
New country.
New continent.
New
leadership.
New teams.
New culture.
Truly, everything is about to flip upside down.
In a few days all of our teams are going to travel back to
Uganda, where we will have a mini debrief.
This debrief is going to be filled with squarties (squad parties),
reflecting on the madness which is Africa, preparation for the craziness that
will be Asia and of course, tons of dancing and awesome fellowship. A big twist in the race that is coming as
well (which we knew about, but it still feels like a twist in the plot) is team
and leadership changes. Our squad
leaders, Sarah and Lucas will be selecting squad leaders to take their place
for the remainder of the race. They will
be officially leaving at the end of Thailand, so this next month they will be
working with the new squad leaders, preparing them to be our new “Mom and Dad�
so to speak. With team leaders being
raised up to squad leaders, other people will be raised up as team leaders and
all new teams will emerge. As with most
transitions, this is bittersweet for me.
I am so incredibly excited to get to know other people on my squad on a
deeper, more intimate level and I also know that the challenges that will come
with being new people are necessary for continued growth. But, I am going to miss the women of my team,
Mabinti Wa Yesu, so so much. I have
grown so close to these women; they truly know
me. They can read me. One of my teammates told me the other day
that she knows the differences between my various laughs and cries. I have developed such a deep level of comfort
with these women. We have walked through
the craziness of being on the race, being in Africa, and also unique to our
group, being all women in foreign situations.
We have walked through the junk in each other’s lives and loved one
another enough to pull them out of it. I
have had light spoken into some of the darkest areas of my life and love into
some of the most painful.
But I am also reminded of how I felt in the beginning of the
race.
Uncertain.
Nervous.
Uncomfortable.
Back then, if you had asked me to put together my team, it
would have looked completely different. But God knew what He was doing. I wouldn’t have traded these past three
months with the women of Mabinti Wa Yesu for anything.
I am coming back to these feelings. I have butterflies in my stomach every time I
think about all the possibilities of new teams.
BUT, God knew what He was doing and He undoubtedly knows
what He is doing now. I am excited to
embrace this next season of the race; to embrace a new team. I am excited to pursue the kingdom of God
with my brothers and sisters. There is
such a beauty in walking confidently in the Lord. He has never given me a reason not to trust
Him and contradictory to my typical response, I am going to fight to walk
forward in that trust.
“This is what the
Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your
salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.� Isaiah 30:15
Everything about my race is
about to change; count me in.
Mabinti Wa Yesu with our contacts from this past month!
