Month ELEVEN.
Day three hundred and something on the race.
Our final country.
In just twenty two days, I'll be on United States soil.
This month, I'm giving up.
I'm tired, exhausted really. The strains of traveling from country to country for eleven months straight, adjusting to a new culture, language, currency, living situation, climate change, and people group every four weeks is enough to make your mind spin just thinking about it.
The World Race is not a vacation. It's not a tour. It's not just eleven months of fun and traveling. It's hard. You get put into situations that you never thought you would find yourself before. You are constantly surrounded by people. You have to remain flexible at all times. You have to be aware. You are on the go. All the time.
And yet, the World Race is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. This year has grown me, stretched me, shaped me. God has poured into me, and I have poured out. I am pouring out every last drop of what He gives me as best as I can. Despite being tired, I am never more alive, more myself. And that is not going to cease with leaving the World Race.
I will miss this, though. The community, the laughter at things only the people around you would understand because they've been there through it all, and seen it all with you. The life that is spoken into you. The prayer, the intentionality. I will miss it. But I will also bring that home and give it to the people there.
Some of you may have read a blog I wrote back in China about my year long challenge. A year of giving. Well, my twenty fourth birthday was this past Wednesday. (It was a splendid day, too, I might add, complete with flowers, cake, and MEXICAN FOOD for dinner!) With my birthday came my challenge. Give something away every day for a whole year. I prayed and decided that my twenty fourth year of life would be about giving, and learning to live with open hands.
My journey begins here in Transnistria. A funny little place, but a place that I am growing to love more and more each day. I am learning to live with open hands, praying into what God would have me give, and to who each day.
This month, this year, I'm giving up. I'm surrendering my selfish thoughts that always threaten to claim stake on “my” possessions. I'm striving to remember that I am only a steward. I am going to live with open hands this year, and see what God does in that. I know that it will be stretching. It will be difficult. But I can't wait for it.
I can't wait to give it up. All for HIS glory.
