We’ve been in Thailand for a little over a month now, and it’s been a great month, but it’s also been an extremely hard month. It’s so easy to wake up, make a couple eggs, and get started with my day. I can go through the motions of a ministry day, say the right things, act like I have it all together, and tell people “I’m doing great!” but the truth is, this whole World Race thing is hard. It’s hard to live in community constantly, not even having a room to yourself to sleep at nights. It’s hard to have 16 people sharing 1 little kitchen, trying to store everyone’s food in the fridge, and keeping things clean. It’s hard to see pictures or videos on Instagram of At the Movies. I got videos of all of my best friends eating Krispy Kream donuts at my house with my parents. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss my church. I miss college football (actually football in general). I miss playing disc golf after church on Sundays followed by a delicious meal at Casa Blanca, topped off with the newest episode of the Walking Dead. All of these things made me comfortable and were easy for me to do.
But the fact of the matter is the Lord never called us to live a life of comfort, and He never told us that following Him would be easy. He actually told us the opposite. In Mark 8:34, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus doesn’t tell us that in order to be His disciple we just have to read the Bible. He doesn’t tell us that we have to pray a certain number of times a day. He tells us to deny ourselves. To deny our fleshly wants and desires. No matter how much we may want something, we have to be willing to give it up to the Lord and do what He desires over what we desire. Sometimes He asks us to give up the comforts that we cling to like food or people, other times He may ask us to give up 30 minutes of sleep to spend more time with Him, sometimes He may tell us to break the norms of society, but it all revolves around us denying ourselves in order to follow Him more. Personally, the Lord has called me to take 9 months away from the comforts of home in order to grow in my relationship with Him and to further His Kingdom. And though it’s hard at times, it’s so, so worth it. When you give up what you want and chase after Him and His desires, you live your life to the fullest. My challenge to each of you would be to ask the Lord what parts of yourself or of your earthly desires you are holding on to. And when He answers you, even though it will be hard, deny yourself and chase after the heart of our Creator.
This is real. This is me. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Ministry Change: My team and I are moving ministry sites for this next month in Thailand. We’re headed off to a farm for the month where we will be doing 6 hours of farming a day. Being on a farm in the country, wifi won’t be as accessible, but I’ll try to keep my blog updated as often as possible.
Thank you all for your continued prayer support! I have a couple teammates who are still in need of financial support so please donate to them if you feel led! anniekitzman.theworldrace.org and gracevenning.theworldrace.org
