Dear Future World Racers,
Yes, what you hear is true! You will travel to different nations and meet people from many cultures. You will meet little orphans and they will hug you and soak up your love. You will plan church services, preach, do construction, evangelize, pray and everything else under the sun! You will proclaim the truth about Jesus Christ and many will choose to follow. As you speak of God’s freedom people will come against you but you will persevere. You will pray and intercede for the multitudes because of who God is. You will see people set free from the grasp of the enemy and turn to the light. You will see God’s power as you do the good work that He has laid out for you. You will see the Holy Spirit move in ways that blow your neat little ideas of Christianity out of the water. Yes, you will see God’s power work as you trek through the nations!
The thing that you would never expect is that the biggest change is you. I would have never expected to be transformed so much. Now at month 9 I am in Romania looking back at old pictures and I cannot even recognize that person anymore. Through it all God has sifted me, grinded me, put me through the fire, mended me, restored me, and THEN renewed me. The thing no one tells you or at least no one told me was that this trip will change YOU. You will NEVER be the same. Ever. Praise God!
Through this year God will move and you will see Him work. He will ask you to surrender those parts of your life that you hold on to so tightly. He will ask you to surrender your dreams for the future, your family, your friends, your (precious) time, your expectations for tomorrow, your past and most of all yourself. He is asking for all of you – every part of your heart. He is asking for it again and again. He wants to redeem those broken parts and mend those areas we tried to patch up ourselves. He is constantly filled with love and compassion for you, but He is ready to move in now and uproot those weeds that have entangled you. He is ready and waiting. Through this race you will be brought to a place of surrender.
He will ask you to forgive those who hurt you and allow Him to take over that area with His love. He will ask you to surrender the control, the pride and the stubbornness, that you so dearly hang on to, so that He can be your faithful master. He will ask again and again “Do you trust me with this?” and continue to say “Let go my child. I did not design you to carry such a heavy burden. Surrender it to me.” Finally, when you find yourself weary and exhausted of your old self and you finally realize that every attempt that you have made to fix it or repair the damage has failed, you let go. You begin to realize that HE is the designer.
Will you surrender? Or will you hold on to the past?
When you come to a place of true surrender and find your cup empty and say, “Lord, I am here, mend me.” He takes you and romances your heart. As you trust Him with your broken, battered and bruised heart He goes to work. He begins to take off those man made patches that we used so desperately to patch up our own heart wounds and He meshes His heart with yours. He begins to heal those holes in your heart. Where your heart is weak His is stronger. Your hearts begin to beat as one. He strengthens your gifts and begins to reveal to you more of Him. He is going to bring up the bad and evil things that have happened in the past not to be cruel but to solely redeem them. He is going to show you how He designed you to work in those areas. Although this process is painful, vulnerable and messy He is good, perfect and faithful. Let’s face it; He knows what He’s doing.
He will show you the roots of the anger, envy, jealousy, selfishness, inadequacies and guilt that are surrounding you. He wants to tear those strongholds down so that you walk in victory in those areas that the enemy is trying to paralyze you in! God is tearing them down to lead you to victory.
He is showing you what it means to be grafted in. He is digging deep to every lie that you believe about yourself. He is going after those generational curses. He is searching after every hurt people have caused you. He is looking for all those insecurities so that He can show you who He claims you as, who He says you are, what your identity is in His power and to show you the authority that you walk in. All of this is not by confidence in you but in Him, in His name and His glory. He wants to show you what He can do.
So when you go on this trip, remember that you are signing up for your hearts to be wrecked and broken and to love like God loves, You are signing up to be transformed by the designer. He will lead you, transform you, mold you, put you through the fire and make you new. Will you go? Actually, Are you ready?
Summary
Will you go?
1) Brokenness- you will be sifted, grinded and put through the fire
2) Trusting Him- Will you let Him work? Surrender
3) Roots- tear down strongholds out
4) Identity- Rebuild
5) Victory- Walk in victory and in God’s authority
