Woah! Wow! What?

December (and half of November) in review. I apologize it’s taken me so long to write, this month has been crazy, to say the least. 

 

Some days I ask myself… “WHAT am I about to do? Am I really about to go on the World Race? Am I really leaving everything and everyone for 11-months?”

Most days I think to myself… “Wow, what an incredible opportunity, I’m so excited to leave in August and to experience the plans God has in store. I cannot believe I get the chance to spend 11-whole-months loving on people all over the world like Jesus does. Just wow!”

But all days I’ve been left in awe of the Lord… “WOAH, I serve an awesome God.”

 

This month was so, so special to me just to mention a handful of reasons why…

I’ve been using these 3 W’s quite often throughout my last month and a half. As most of you already know, this journey commenced with being accepted as a World Racer for August 2018. Along with my acceptance and commitment came fundraising. Remember that big number? Yeah!? That’s why there is little time to lose. Not only was this month already a little different than normal after being accepted, I spent the last month in my hometown in Florida. My time has been busy, a little stressful, but definitely filled with loads of love and joy.

I got the chance to meet up with another future racer, and exchange great conversation over coffee (shoutout to Laura).

I spent time goofing around with my cousins, bouncing between Christmas celebrations, and soaking up time with my family. We spent our days making and decorating cookies, playing cards, swinging in ENOs, and cracking jokes and stories around the fire. I’ll surely miss these moments with my loved ones.

I visited my mom’s church throughout this month. I was comforted by knowing she’s surrounded by a great community who loves and pours into her, and I finally met the incredible people she talks about all the time. I always left feeling so encouraged by their kind words and support. 

Other times were packed full of going house-to-house visiting with a few of my favorite families. I used my time with them to have conversations about my excitements, concerns, and the details of the World Race, and catch up on my many months away. Each conversation looked a little different but most always held so much truth and love. Majority of the time was spent playing, giggling, and running around with my kiddos. 

I even got the opportunity to rekindle a past friendship with a childhood best friend and catch up on all our lost years. It felt like no time was lost and we continued as if we had been best friends all these years. 

 

The most dreaded part of missions…

If I’m being completely honest with you, this month also had some difficult times.  One of the most dreaded, like absolutely dreaded, is fundraising. I feel so awkward and super uncomfortable asking for money, I was so overwhelmed by the amount I had to raise and the lack of support I thought I was receiving, and began to become discouraged. However, I will say that God surely has started teaching me much more through this than I would have ever expected.

At the beginning of December fundraising had created this weight on my chest that slowly began crushing all of my excitement. I even began to question if I was indeed pursuing what the Lord had called me to or if I was making some sort of mistake. Doubt creeped in… The enemy used that doubt to fuel my fear and discouragement, but the Lord continued to show his faithfulness. I hardly did any fundraising at all but some how God provided way more funds than I expected. I was blown away by the generosity of people. I received donations from a friend’s boss who came across my journey through a shared Facebook post. I received donations from people from church I hadn’t talked to in years, one instance in particular is when I sat next to this sweet, sweet woman at the living nativity then later in the month that same woman made it a point to tell me that donating was on her to-do list for the week. I received a donation from a man I met in Germany when I was stuck in the airport for 18-hours while traveling home from France this past summer. I even received a donation from someone anonymously (thank you so much if you’re reading this). I’ve been so blessed this month and am humbled by the kindness of others. Believe it or not, fundraising is ministry. I thought I would be reaching a lot of people by sharing my journey but I’ve been way more impacted by the people I’ve talked to in return.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED ME PRAYERFULLY OR FINANCIALLY THUS FAR. I’M SO THANKFUL FOR EACH OF YOU! I’m so blessed to have such amazing people in my life.

 

This month I was reminded of a few things….

One, my God is always faithful, never-failing, and is sovereign over all things. 

Two, people have amazed me with their kindness, support, and generosity…Family and strangers alike. I knew this was a difficult month to donate with Christmas and all but I still received an abundance of blessings. I received far more than I was expecting, and it was only possible because of Jesus.

Three, God allowed pretty amazing conversations and opportunities to take place all around me. I’m glad I serve a God that knows all things and is never surprised because I definitely was surprised multiple times over the span of a few weeks.