Yes, you heard correctly. I am no longer doing the World Race!
Let me explain! (There are not enough exclamation points in Microsoft Word for this announcement and you probably have a lot of question marks.) !!! ???
Making this decision started Sunday November 29th. I got into bed and after a few minutes I knew I needed to get out of bed and get on my knees.
As soon as I got out of bed I immediately thought, “I don’t know if I’m still doing the World Race.” So I began to pray and seek the Lord, and the Holy Spirit landed on me with some tears, shaking, and with such clear vision and burden for how He wants to move in my city, Winston Salem, NC. (City of “victory” and “peace”).
After this encounter, I felt such a burden and shift in my heart for my city. As I sought the Father all week, he made it clear that this was a choice I needed to make for myself, and that he trusted me. Something someone said to me about my World Race earlier this year really stuck with me;
“If you go on the World Race for just one person, for one life to be changed, it is all worth it.”
The Lord told me very clearly that if I choose to go on the World Race it’ll be awesome and I’ll be serving Him and honoring Him. But, if I choose to stay in Winston Salem, I’ll get to bring more people with me.
This weighed on my heart so heavily, and I began to long for the generation I am the oldest of, and my younger siblings’ generation (Gen-Z) to know God and follow Him in power. There are several girls I am reconnecting with who I met when they were in middle school and I was leading Young Life. I have decided it is so worth it to stay here and get to continue building sisterhood with them, as well as the youth group high schoolers at my church, who I just started leading again. Jesus reveals himself to me so tangibly in my relationships with my high school friends. Each one of them is so worth me staying here. I am honored to be trusted with discipling them and being their older sister in spirit.
On Monday, December 7th I officially dropped from the World Race. I feel so so so much peace and even joy on this decision. Jesus is so faithful and sometimes our lives look wildly different than we had expected. I’m learning a lot right now, and Jesus is speaking so deeply to my heart these days. There is more to come, but for now, I’ll leave you with Isaiah 40:3-5, a passage of scripture that is really burning in me right now;
“A voice cries:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
The uneven ground shall become level,
And the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together,
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
This is the same passage John the Baptist quoted when he explained who he was and what he was doing.
THANK YOU ALL from the bottom of my heart for supporting me in so many ways, financially, in prayer, in being there for me, in doing life with me, reading my blog posts, randomly texting me, etc. I still need prayer and support in this season as I seek the Lord and step into new things, thank you for showing me I have that!
Fundraising:
All the funds from this trip cannot be refunded because it is a non-profit and my trip wasn’t cancelled, I chose to leave it. All of these funds will still go to spreading the gospel among the nations, and I’m so thankful you have invested in it. My team from this trip is wonderful, and I am so expectant for how God will move among them, and I will keep up with them! Would you pray for this squad and their trip as they fundraise and prepare to launch in August? They are so devoted and love Jesus and people very deeply. Also, feel free to follow some of their blogs. If you go to the bottom of this page you can click on the active squad members and see their blogs.
https://www.worldrace.org/route/world-race-august-2021-expedition/
Let me know if you have any questions about the funds, my decision, or anything!
May Immanuel reveal himself to you today no matter what you are doing, He is there. He is speaking. Let’s keep tuning our hearts to hear him.
All the love and joy,
Lucy Smoot
