My flight was canceled at 9 pm the night before I was about to leave. The only flight they were able to get me on would not arrive until 2 days into training camp. Instant anxiety hit me and fear that I would not make it there. After 2 hours of talking to the airline, they were able to get me on a flight that would arrive right on time. It was through a canceled flight, that I began to see the beginning workings of Gods plan. Later I opened up the bible to find the verse “God causes everything to work together” Romans 8:28.
Signing up for the World Race, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted-I knew I wanted adventure, to see the world and possibly help others along the way. Little did I know that this experience would become much more. Preparing for training camp came with struggles of self-doubt and fear which only worsened upon arrival. After pitching my tent in a field with 150 others I finally realized the utter insanity of it all.
It wasn’t until training camp that I realized there was a lot I needed to wrestle with- -What was my identity in the eyes of God? Could a God so big really love me? Am I worthy enough for God’s ocean of grace? Not only was I wrestling with my own identity in the eyes of God but with the fear that this was not His will for my life- In the first couple of days this fear would turn to joy and then back to fear again. However, God was very clear, as a daughter of Christ I was called to do something more, to go out to the nations bringing love and joy.
I was also unaware of the amount of adventure involved and that I may have bitten off more than I could chew.. The second night they took half of our bags and made us share tents, clothes and sleeping bags. The third night they took all of our tents and we had to sleep outside under a tarp. The men set-up a nice shelter for us, however, after staying up late looking at the stars and the lightening coming in, a few of us realized there was no room under the shelter and we decided to sleep outside, knowing that rain was probably imminent, we grabbed an extra tarp to pull over all of us just in case. When the rain came pouring down we all grabbed the tarp and huddled under it, laughing and talking about the craziness of it all. It was amazing to see how even in a difficult situation, all our fears turned to laughter. Luckily, I had a camera at the bottom of my sleeping bag so we were able to get a picture:
