So this month was what the World Race calls “Manistry Month.” All the men were one team this month and because of that all the women were on brand new all-girl teams for one month. I love girl community!
This is my team of crazy, weird, beautiful girls. We called ourselves Team Mackel-More. I promise there’s a spiritual meaning behind that and it’s not spelled wrong!
We spent the month working at Bankai School as English teachers. Civanna and myself worked with the secondary students. I loved it!
This was an amazing month for so many reasons. It tops my list of places to come back to as a tourist. If you like cheap adventure and cheap delicious food, put Thailand on your bucket list. My team and I got to do so much ridiculous stuff this month like ride elephants, cuddle with tigers, explore caves, etc. On top of that, I got to celebrate my birthday with these girls which was beyond amazing!
Thailand brought so much more than just adventure. Let’s get real for a moment. The race is more than just physically exhausting. It’s emotionally and spiritually and whatever other kind of exhausting there is. We pack up everything: our houses, our beds, our clothes, all of our material belongings for the year into one big bag every month. We travel to a new country and learn a new culture, a new ministry, sometimes a new team, new people, every month. We are constantly challenging ourselves and each other spiritually. And on top of that there’s about zero alone time on the race. I’ve been exhausted for months now and feeling a lot of unrest physically and spiritually.
At the end of Mongolia we prayed for a word from God for this month. The word I got was “refresh.” I didn’t really know what that meant, but shoot I wanted to be refreshed! During the month our team had a night where we individually asked God to give us a promise, either a new one or a reminder of something He’s already promised to us. At first what I heard sounded a lot more like constructive feedback than a promise. I felt like God was saying to me that the unrest I was feeling directly correlated to my lack of patience in waiting on Him to speak and guide me. Because I wasn’t giving Him the time to speak to me, I wasn’t hearing from Him and when I didn’t hear from Him I’d start to pick things up on my own accord again. It’s not directly disobedience, but it is because I’m not truly seeking His voice to be obedient to and that is part of what’s caused the unrest in my spirit.
After hearing all of that I was reminded of a scripture that most Christians are pretty familiar with:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
And I thanked God for the reminder and the kick in the pants! But then I kept reading because I never really read past those common verses and here’s what I found:
“Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:7-8)
And there’s my word. Amen! I feel like I got the reminder I needed to start this new month in Cambodia well with my brand new team and ultimately to finish the race well.
And with that, here’s our monthly video. Enjoy!
