My team decided to write letters to our future selves. Here’s my letter that I wrote for July 2017 “end-of-the-race” Patrick:
Yo dude,
I’m sure you’ve been through a lot these past nine and a half months. I wish I knew now all the things God did in your life, but I guess there’s beauty in not knowing. What I do know though is that this experience was so radical and filled with the Holy Spirit that you probably won’t even recognize me and that’s okay.
Alex asked us to write letters to our future end-of-the-race selves. I’m not exactly sure what that looks like, so I guess I’ll write to you about the things I pray God has done in your life on the race.
First off, your relationship with the Father has probably grown a lot, but I pray you never grew complacent in that. A relationship is always building and growing, so I hope you kept diving into His word to learn more about Him.
Also, I pray you’re at a point where you are constantly sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You hear Him but you didn’t always listen back in the day, so I hope you reached a level of intimacy with the Holy Spirit that beforehand you didn’t know was possible.
Being in constant community, I’ve learned that it’s pretty rare to genuinely be grounded in the true identity of being a son and daughter of God, and how to truly walk that out. You were so rooted in that identity and the fact that no matter what, your Father loves you. I pray you continued to stay true to that identity, that you kept walking without doubting the love He unconditionally extends to you.
I pray He shattered your belief that he can’t use you for healings. I know you’ve seen people receive healing in the past, but you used to not believe God could use you to bring supernatural healing in someone’s life, so I hope that has changed. Also, did you ever stop doubting your gift of the prophetic? I know the Holy Spirit only tried to use you on rare occasions which is probably why you hesitated when God gave you a word to share with someone, but I genuinely pray you learned how to walk in that gift with boldness and without fear, regardless of how often it was. A prophetic word has nothing to do with you; it has everything to do with God.
I don’t know how much you’ve changed so don’t be offended by this, but I also pray you didn’t become so focused on the supernatural (prophetic, healing, signs, wonders, miracles, etc.) that you lost sight of the Simple Gospel. You’re a son of God. Jesus died on the cross for you. He loves you unconditionally. We are here to extend that love to others. You used to walk in that so I just pray you never forgot to slow down, and that you always loved people, listened to them, and walked with them. I hope the people in South America you encountered experienced the love of their Father through that same love you constantly walked in. Without that love, spiritual gifts are nothing. I hope you never forgot about that agape love.
Thanks for taking the time to read this dude. Keep living missionally in anything you do. Keep up the good vibes and have fun walking with the Father on your next big adventure.
Love,
Patrick
I’m currently $1,100 away from being fully funded! I want to give a special thanks to everyone who has kept me in your thoughts and prayers during the past 6 weeks on the world race. I’ve been able to be part of so much Kingdom work in Colombia and Guyana and it’s such a privilege to walk through it. Thank you to everyone who has financially partnered with me on this journey as well; I wouldn’t be able to grow with Him and share God’s love while helping those around me if it weren’t for you all. Please consider financially supporting my ministry! If you want to donate, you can do so by clicking “Donate/Support Me” above. Any amount helps me reach my final deadline and allows me to continue furthering God’s Kingdom in South America.
