- One week ago the World Race ended; my 11 month journey around the world came to a close
- One week ago I said goodbye to 31 amazing people that became my family, experiencing the good and bad together
- One week ago I left a community of people committed to loving the Lord, and each other; people who encouraged me in more ways than they will ever know.
- One week ago I finished one of the most amazing experiences in my life, an experience that has left me forever changed
- And One week ago I was reminded that the God I continued to learn about, grow in, and receive love and grace from in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine is the same God I get to encounter every day back home in the U.S.
Ending the race is not a sad time. Sure, I am going to miss my squad very much, and I absolutely cherish everything this year has taught me. But, I feel incredibly blessed that now I get to bring everything from this year back home. The lessons I learned from living in community I get to bring into my relationships with my family and friends. I get to love and encourage them, as well as receive their love and encouragement for me. My heart gets to break for the lost people in my own community the same way my heart broke for the lost people in South East Asia. I get to bring God’s light and truth with every step I take, just like we did in Mozambique and Ukraine. This year was not about serving those around the world for 11 months, but about understanding that it is because of the grace of God that we get to love and serve Him by loving and serving those around us EVERY day and EVERYwhere.
There are so many things I have loved about this year, and beginning to process it all is a bit overwhelming. A lot times over this past week at home the WR has felt like a dream. The things we were able to do and experience seem almost unreal. But, the fact is that they were real and they did happen. With the thousands of stories, and innumerable ways of seeing the Lord work in our lives, the one lesson that I was continually taught each month was that none of this is possible without the grace of God. We are all fallen, we are all sinners, and it is because of Jesus Christ that we have been brought back to the Father and given the chance to live as children of the King. My prayer for myself as I move on with life is that I continue to discover (not create) my identity and believe in the truth that God loves me.
Titus 2:11-14
11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
