First of all, A HUGE HUGE HUUUUUUUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me in prayer and financially because I’ve fundraised right over $10,000! This is seriously so mind-blowing and overwhelming to see how many people believe in me and what I’m doing, so I just wanted to take the opportunity to say that I really appreciate all of the support! I couldn’t be doing this without you. Alsoooooo I still have a ways to go to reach my full fundraising amount of $16,000 so if you feel lead, please feel free to donate!
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I’m at launch this weekend. This means that allllllll of the racers doing the World Race Gap Year are meeting in Atlanta, Georgia to have some sessions and get together before each squad goes off to different countries and share God’s love!
I said goodbye to my parents at lunch today, which, if I’m being completely honest, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I just feel kind of numb about saying goodbye to everyone. It’s weird because I didn’t have a fancy going-away party or any formal goodbyes. Before I left, I would see some friends but I wouldn’t know if I’d see them again if I left. Like I wanted to, and I told myself I would, but I didn’t. So it’s been really weird. Like I guess it hasn’t really set in? But if you really think about it, if I was in college, I still wouldn’t really get to see my friends and family back home that often anyways, so I guess it’s not that big of a deal? And I’ll still be able to text and FaceTime home sometimes, so it’s not like I’ll be completely cut off from talking to everyone back home. So if y’all could be praying for all of the racers and the transition from home to entering a completely different country and culture, I know we all would appreciate it!
It’s currently 9:53pm on Saturday, we just got out of a session downstairs at launch and some of my roomies in my hotel is postmating wings, another girl is facetiming her sister at college, and I’m writing a blog about what happened today while stuffing my face with some cheezits. But I really want to share what happened because I hope it might encourage someone else!
In the middle of worship tonight, one of our team leaders came up to me and suggested that I change my position of worship. At first, I was really confused because I didn’t realize that that made a difference. She told me that I could try holding my hands up in the universal sign for “surrender,” showing God how I’m surrendering (get it haha) to what God wants to do in my life. This literally came at the PERFECT time because I was stressing out about my family at home. I was a little worried about going on the trip, which is literally so ridiculous because if God didn’t want me to go on this trip, there’s no way I would’ve gotten this far. But once I started surrendering, I felt this indescribable peace come over me. And I got what I like to call the Holy Spirit chills! That’s how I feel God’s presence and it’s honestly the coolest feeling in the world.
So I know this blog isn’t long or have a whole lot to do with launch, but I wanted to post about what I learned because it’s really helped me and I’m hoping it could help some of you! I’ll definitely be posting a lot more on my blog since I’m OFFICIALLY on the race, so keep a look out for some more posts!
Also, our squad is leaving for Romania on Monday! I’m so excited! I would really appreciate it if you all could pray for our safety getting there and for us to have open eyes and hearts to those we meet!
God is good!
Maddie Chase
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Maddie Chase
Instagram: itsmaddiee23
