Here I am again with a million things I should be doing finding myself sitting down with a hot (& sweet-lets be real) cup of coffee to write. Anyone who has read any of my previous blogs knows that this seems to be a common trend. It only seemed fitting that my first post for the World Race would follow this same pattern.
A few days ago I sat in my bedroom floor at my parents house packing up all of my belongings that will move out with me when I return from the World Race. It’s a strange feeling sorting through and organizing items that you think you may want a year and a half from now, and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of them. Do I really want to get rid of this or am I just tired of trying to figure out where to put it?
As I was going through everything, I came across an item I would love to use in a nursery someday. As I sat there holding it, I started crying. I don’t normally ugly cry while cleaning but this was different. It represented everything that I had always dreamed of having. A cute little family, with a nice looking husband, a stable job, a yearly vacation, maybe a wrap around porch, hopefully not a mini-van. You know, the pretty little packaged up average middle upper class American family. It represented the life I always imagined having being packed away. It represented everything I thought I wanted.
If you rewind over the majority of my life, that’s what I would have told you my plan was. That was my dream. Even though I have since allowed the Lord to rewrite those dreams, sometimes its still just plain hard. It’s hard not to meet the milestones I thought I would be meeting. It’s hard not announcing that I’ve accepted my dream job in the nursing field along with my classmates. It’s hard saying “see you later” to grandparents when “later” very well may be in Heaven.
But in surrender comes satisfaction.
And that’s why I’m packing up my whole life into a 70 liter bag and literally trekking across the world.
Eleven months.
Eleven countries.
One Savior.
So what even is the World Race?
Eleven months serving in eleven countries (one month in each) including 3 billion unreached people, 18 million orphans, 4.5 million sex slaves, 9 million in prisons, and 795 million who are undernourished.
Each day will look a little different and could range from running a VBS, doing construction, praying for people in hospitals, to teaching basic CPR classes or going to the market to get groceries with my team.
I will be living out of a 70 liter backpack + a small day pack. These bags will hold my bed, shelter, clothes, toiletries, basically my whole life.
Haiti. Dominican Republic. South Africa. Botswana. Zambia. India. Nepal. Romania. Albania. Bulgaria. Serbia.
August 2018-July 2019
I would love to pack you up and take you with me, but since I probably can’t carry you all in my backpack, I will do my best to take you with me through sharing here what all the Lord is doing in preparation and during this journey. The easiest way for you to follow along is by hitting the “subscribe for updates” button located under my name.
I can’t wait to take you on this journey with me.
