One thing I’ve learned about the race is that nothing ever stays the same. My clothes often become so worn down I have to toss them out and get new ones. Im never in the same place for more than a few weeks. I mean, in the last five months I’ve been to two different continents and 6 different countries. The only constant is change.
Heading into my fifth month on the race in Malaysia I was prepared for things to change in a big way. I had already been told that there were going to be team changes after month four. For the first five months of the race, there are alumni squad leaders who travel with us. They are people who have done the race before and come along to serve and support our squad. During this time, part of what they do is seek out people to train and raise up into new squad leaders because after month five the alumni will head home and the raised up leaders from within the squad will take over.
While I was still in El Salvador with team Sista Fierce, the alumni squad leaders approached me and asked if I would consider becoming a raised up squad leader. I had known they were looking for new leaders from within our squad but I wasn’t sure that they were going to ask me up until this point. Squad leading is an awesome opportunity. It is an incredible way to serve the people on our squad, it’s challenging and fun and new and exciting. It’s also not what I signed up for. I signed up to be Jesus to the nations, to be with a team of people who I would live with, love with and build community with month after month. If I squad led, that would all be different. I would be on a team of only three people. But I wouldn’t spend each month doing ministry with them. Instead we would split up each month to go to a different team to support them, get to know them and join in their ministry. I would spend one month with a team and then the next month I would go to a whole new team. I spent four months with my beloved Sista Fierce, getting to know those women in beautiful ways and now I was looking at having to restart that process six times with whole new people. And that just sounded rough.
The thing is, Jesus doesn’t give us what we sign up for. We sign up for the easy way out, for trouble-free relationships and comfortable lives. We don’t want to struggle or be in hard places or change our hearts. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that Jesus doesn’t always give me what I signed up for but He does give me everything I need. If I say yes to Him, He will give me the strength to do whatever the task and not only that, He will give me more than I could have dreamed. A year ago, I never would have imagined that I would be traveling the world with a group of people who would go from strangers to family but here I am. And I love it. I have more than a comfortable life, I have an epic life; full of adventure, love, grace, hardship, strength and beauty.
So when He asked me to do something last month that I didn’t sign up for, I said yes. I spent month five in Malaysia training to become a squad leader with three of the best alumni squad leaders a girl could ask for. I got a new team and am heading into a whole new season of the world race and it will be different and not what I signed up for and so so good. And I can’t wait to see what Jesus has in store.
This is my new team, The Ragamuffins, along with our alumni squad leaders. Please be praying for Jake, Megan and myself as we head into this new season! You can also check out Jake and Megan’s blogs by clicking on the links in my sidebar.
