THE WORLD RACE IS INTIMIDATING!
You know that feeling you get as you pack your bags for a weekend getaway? The one that sits deep down in your stomach, telling you that you are forgetting something important. Well, Imagine going away for an entire year.It's not easy putting your life on hold for a year. I have been running around like a crazy woman for the past 8 months attempting to get everything in order.
Trying to get a whole years worth of ducks in a row.
I feel like my ducks are scattered across a huge pond with no worry in mind
…Maybe I could learn a lesson from my ducks.
Finances have been one of my biggest obstacles. Yes, what I need in my World Race account for the year is $15,500. But that's definitly not all that I needed. I had to purchase gear, shots, malaria medication, contacts, glasses, the right clothes and shoes, hygeine items, $1,100 to live off of overseas, save up enough to pay my car note and insurance for a year, travelers insurance, and on, and on, and on…This is where thinking like my ducks would come in handy. Sadly, I usually let the stress of not having enough money get to me. Instead of looking like an elegant swan, I end up looking like…
The thought of not seeing your family for a year is kind of serial. I am going to be really homesick at times and miss them dearly. It's weird knowing that while i'm out on the mission field, life is still going to be pressing on at home. My brother is going to keep growing and even start driving while I am away. My dog is probably going to think I died and mope around the house for a year. I can't wait to pull a lazarus on her 😉 My mom will be home stressing out and trying to use her work connections to make sure I am safe all year. Meanwhile, I will be calling 55 God chosen strangers "family" for the next year.
My camping experience consisted of one weekend when I was little. I got stung by an asp and my mom slapped me to get me to stop crying…you can imagine how that turned out… I obviously never had the desire to go camping again and also developed a huge fear of bugs. Well, a month ago, I went camping for an entire week in Georgia. I'm pretty sure my tent almost floated away several times, my pillow popped, I almost suffocated in my tent (I sprayed the thing with deet….lots of deet), I set my tent/rainfly up wrong more times than I have fingers (THANK YOU, THOMAS HAYGOOD!), I was surrounded by bugs…lots of bugs, I got so many ant bites on my feet that they swole up really big and I had cankles for 4 days, I ate a dehydrated fish, and I lost a leg 😉 😉 BUT…..IT WAS THE BEST WEEK EVER!!!!! Still, I don't exactly know how this camping for a year thing is going to go down. I also enjoy showers and toilets, two things I cannot count on having for the next year. I do know that I am going to be a changed woman when I come home!
I always overpack. How am I supposed to know what I am going to want to wear tomorrow, much less for 11 months and in 11 different countries?! Oh, and I have to fit all of that in one bag along with my gear, electronics, snacks, and hygeine items? Is this real life?! Wait, What?…I have to try to make it 35lbs, because that's the weight limit for most foreign airlines!!? You craaazy! Maybe I can find a Mary Poppins bag on ebay…
My alone time on the race will consist of earbuds, closing my eyes, and using my imagination to pretend that those 6 other people AIM put me with for the year aren't all up in my business. Personal bubble, consider yourself officially popped. I am going to have 6 people watching my every move for a whole year. Every night we are going to have a feedback session. This is a time to build one another up and also to help each other grow into the identity Christ has for each of us. I know it's not always going to be easy, and no one really likes to hear that they've done something wrong. But the thought of 6 people always being honest and real with me, because they care about me and my relationship with Christ that much, is incredible.
Missionary. Wow, can I call myself that? Is it legit now? Is there a special card I have to carry or a club I need to join? 😉 Welcome to 7+ hour long worship services, listening to the preacher give an entire sermon in a different language, a pastor pulling you up to preach when you have absolutely nothing prepared, children pinching you (because they've never seen a white person and they think you are a ghost), eating strange foods that are offered to you (while trying to trick yourself into thinking it's just chicken), having the opportunity to pray over people and witnessing the kind of miracles I've only ever heard stories of. Sounds kind of crazy.
　
　
I have 19 days until I leave. Satan has been attacking me left and right…Why? Because, THE WORLD RACE IS INTIMIDATING!!!!!!! He's scared. He knows that in 19 days, 55 people are going to speak truth over AUSTRALIA, MALAYSIA, VIETNAM/LAOS, CAMBODIA, INDIA, NEPAL, TANZANIA, KENYA, RWANDA, UKRAINE AND ROMANIA! He knows that those 55 people are not going to settle for their comfortable christianity anymore. He knows that chains are going to be broken, captives are going to be set free, sickness is going to be healed, and lives are going to be surrendered to our Lord! So, he is doing everything in his power to get those 55 people to just stay home. TOO BAD HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY POWER OVER ANY OF US!
THE WORLD RACE IS INTIMIDATING, and that is why I am doing it 🙂
