You don’t know what you’re in for. You don’t know what living in community is – no matter how many blogs you’ve read or what experience you’ve had. You’ll be faced to confront anything and everything that you’ve dealt with, haven’t dealt with and are currently dealing with. You will be put in uncomfortable positions. You will not always like all you’re team members and sometimes you’d like to shake them by their shoulders and yell at them but you’ll have to C H O O S E to love them and give grace. Yes. Grace. That 5 letter word that sounds so humble and nice yet it is messy, complicated and goes against every fibre of your being. Patience will be exercised. You will find out how selfish you are. Days will come where all you want to do is be in the comfort of what is familiar. You’ll want to get away from everyone and just spend as much time alone as possible (you’re lucky if you even get 30 mins). Your with people all the time – even if you’re not interacting with them. People are around you literally 24hrs a day 7 days a week. When conflict arises, be prepared to work it out because on the race, there is no option to wait until tomorrow.
Advice for anyone thinking of going on the race. DO NOT GO ON THE RACE FOR THE WRONG REASONS!!! It IS NOT a potential missionary dating field. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE re-focus, re-align your heart if your motivation is to find a spouse on the race. Let’s get real. You know what you think in the back of your mind even though you may verbally deny it, you know your thoughts and desires. Pray through it. Your primary reason to go on the race SHOULD NOT be because you get to go to all sorts of different countries or because you think it will be like a vacation. Yes, you do get to do some cool exploring and go on adventures on days off, but that is besides the fact that you will be working and doing ministry not only with the people in the country you’re in, but you will be discipling you’re own teammates in one form or another. If you have heavy issues that you KNOW you need to work on – DO NOT GO ON THE RACE UNTIL THEY ARE DEALT WITH PROPERLY because I GUARANTEE YOU that those issues will come up.You will see that it will affect you’re team and even hinder ministry for you and your teammates.
You’re faith is your own. You can do what you want with it. You can choose to stay with what you know and cling on to that or you can choose let God transform you, stretch you and show you more of who He is and what He wants to give to you.
Make no mistake. The race is not always fun. It is messy. It is hard. It is frustrating. It is exhausting. It makes you think, being a Christian really sucks.
Through it all I wouldn’t exchange any of it. The hardest experiences in life, if you let the Lord anchor you through it, shapes your character, you’re understanding of people, how to love and serve them just as Christ did for us. This is the refiners fire. It will hurt to die to yourself, but it will bring you closer to the one calling you close to His heart. You are His daughter. You are His son. And He is only looking out for your best interest because He loves you dearly.
This is not about AIM. This is not about you. This is about being transformed by the fullness of God bringing the Kingdom to others. So the question is: Are you ready to make that commitment to the Lord?
