This is it

This is it. 

This is the end of the World Race. Something I never imagined I would be able to say that I was at. 

If you didn’t know, I started off the race as a team leader for the first 4 months and finished the remaining 7 months as a racer (and treasurer). One of my very wise squad leaders pointed out that I am the only person on our entire squad who has had the opportunity to be a leader first and then a just a racer. She challenged me to really ask God why He had put me in these two situations and what He had taught me from them. 

So I am going to share with you what I learned. I think it may help bring some clarity into the person that is coming back to you in the next week versus the person that left the states 11 months ago. 

When I left in July 2013 I was terrified and excited to begin the journey that God had brought me to the threshold of. I couldn’t imagine what was going to happen, who I was going to meet or what crazy things I was going to eat. I was about to travel around the world with 40+ strangers  who had as little clue as I did. Not to mention the fact that I was chosen to be a team leader for a team of 7 girls. I was so intimidated by the responsibility of caring for and loving 6 completely new and different people than I had ever met and speaking wisdom and truth in their lives. Never before in my life had I felt how completely inadequate I was on my own. I could never be able to lead 6 strong, Godly women in my own strength. I learned in those 4 months how to have complete dependence on God for everything, whether it was in my actions, words or thoughts. 

Then in Month 5 I was no longer a team leader and became a racer. I was not responsible for anyone besides myself. I got to take my dependance on God I had learned in the first 4 months and apply it to my life, to me, and not be obligated to worry about everyone else. It was just me and God against the world. I had learned how much I needed him and how willing he was to be there and then in the last 7 months I experienced the freedom of walking in dependance and communication with Him. I grew in confidence in hearing Him speak to me about me and others and the freedom to feel or do whatever it was He asked me to do. 

Even though I have struggled, experienced and learned a lot the one way that has impacted me to the very core of my existence is this: 

I started the World Race with complete dependence ON Him.

I am ending the World Race with complete freedom IN Him.

There are a lot of ways that I have grown and changed this year, some I am aware of and some I have yet to realize. And I really do want to share it all with you. Please feel free to ask me questions, have me show you pictures, tell me what has been happening in your own lives. Feel free to comment on weird habits I’ve picked up from traveling out of a backpack around the world for a year. My excitement over having a dryer, napkins and a real towel may seem strange but it’s genuine in my life right now. 

I am so excited to come home and see you and love you and be loved and seen by you all. 

I don’t know what this next season will hold, but you can check out my birthday blog if you want details on how I am certain it will be GOOD because my God is a GOOD God.