9 months ago I began a journey called The World Race. I was eager to learn more about God, myself, and the world around me. I packed my bag with more things than I actually needed, said goodbye to my family and friends, and hopped on a plane. Everything that happened next has changed me, in ways that I don’t even know if I can explain, but I will try.
Now, I’m about 12 hours in to a 20 hour bus ride through Asia. Crazy right? Even crazier, in just 7 days I will be returning home, but I am not the same. I encountered all kinds of cultures and fell in love with people from all of them. I haven’t been alone for even a second in 9 months, that’s what living in community is like. I’ve experienced things that haven’t even sunk in yet. I achieved just what I set out for and so much more. I learned a lot about myself, about God, and about the world we live in.
GOD:
– He is in control of everything. He’s got it. Literally do not worry about anything. Who do you really want to be in control anyways? You or God?? The correct answer is God. He will always take control anyways. There’s literally nothing you can do to mess up His plan, so seriously stop stressing and trust in God.
– He speaks to me! Through nature, through the Bible, through random visions, through other people, and even sometimes through a small, still voice in my own head, God speaks directly and personally to me. I mean it!! He will always speak, to me and to you. The only question is are you truly listening? Do you know what His voice sounds like to you? I suggest you seek it out, because once you discover that your life will never be the same. I speak from experience.
– He is really quite simple. All He wants is for us to LOVE EVERYBODY. As humans, we all try to make it so complicated, so specific, and so argumentative when that’s not at all what God is about. With God, it’s simple: love above all else. (Yes. I got that tattooed on my body, that’s what you do on the World Race; if God teaches you something, you get a tattoo about it. It’s just what you do.)
MYSELF:
– I choose people. I’m not good at mingling with every body. I always pick favorites and I stick to them. In Costa Rica, I tried to be everybody’s friend. As a introvert, that completely drained me. I tried to give everybody a little bit of myself and in the end nobody got enough. Come South Africa, I learned that is because I choose people and THAT’S OKAY. I found my favorites in South Africa, in Thailand, and in Myanmar and I found them fast. Lakheni, Tannawat and Tannakrit, Pasui — you forever have my heart. I give all of myself to the people I choose and I see the results of it. The connections I make and the impacts I have overflow my heart with love.
– I’m awful at goodbyes. Really, I’m terrible. Like, the worst. As I just finished explaining, I choose people and I get attached. I love so much and so deep that it hurts so bad to leave these people. Insensibly, I feel guilty for leaving. I feel like I’m abandoning them. I know this isn’t true. I know that my memory will remain and God’s love will forever hold them, but that was also something that I had to learn too. Goodbyes never got easier, but I figured how to deal with them.
– I am a freaking MOM. Through and through, my motherly instincts show in pretty much everything that I do. Seriously, my team refers to me as mom. I hold them when they’re sick, I check to make sure they took their malaria pills, I did the grocery shopping and cooked dinner, I clean up after them, I always remind them to do things, and most importantly I always make sure they know they are loved. It was definitely my place, and I couldn’t be happier to be the team mom.
THE WORLD:
– Americans are loud. And selfish. And entitled. But everyone else still loves us?? I truly don’t understand it, but people from all the countries I visited looked up to us and adored us. Even when we were loud, annoying, obnoxious, and messy they eagerly welcomed us and thanked us for coming no matter where we went. We are blessed more than we know. Honestly, I never thought America was all that great. But the way other people awe over our country and our people has given me a newfound love for all that America and it’s people, as crazy as we are, have to offer.
– Little old ladies are going to be our form in heaven. We will all smile at each other and shove free food in each other’s hands. Little old ladies are actually angels. Nobody can prove me wrong. In all their years and all they have experienced, little old ladies are kind and caring like no other. In each and every country I visited a little old lady hugged me and forced me to take some kind of free food and refused any time of payment. In each and every country I visited, little old ladies would light up and I could see their hearts glow with appreciation. These woman have it all figured out, they know how to love.
– Me and my problems are literally TINY. This world is huge, ginormous, I mean it’s BIG. I would know, I flew all around it. I’ve stood on ocean shores that meet the horizon and never end. I’ve swim at the bottom of waterfalls so immense that I was kind of intimidated. I’ve been surrounded by majestic mountains that tower over me. I’ve witnessed countless sunrises and sunsets so beautiful that I wanted to cry. I’ve seen a sky so full of stars I began to think infinity isn’t a high enough number to count them all. From all of this, I learned that I am just a spec in this astonishing world. A tiny spec that God has chosen to change the world one person at a time.
So there you have it. Nine months of learning and experience summed up in a couple of paragraphs. I’m sorry if my writing is a little wild, as I mentioned I am on a 20 hour bus ride, you tend to go a little crazy on those (only 7 hours left!!).
In all seriousness, The World Race has taken who I was and amplified the best parts of me while slowly chiseling away the worst parts of me. I have grown in unimaginable ways and learned more than I will ever be able to share. But, God is not finished with me yet. My real race, called Life, isn’t finished until I meet my Father in heaven. Until that day, I will grow more and learn more and never be the same.
