We arrived in Banos, Ecuador yesterday. Tonight is our first session for debrief as a whole squad. 33 World Racers – 28 women and 5 men. 3 Squad Leaders – John, Cali, and Brittany. 2 Coaches – Selena and Chuck, and 1 Squad Mentor – Sam. God is moving through our squad in waves. We share one story after another about what God did in Peru in our ministries and in our lives.
The music starts and I look down to see my necklace. My clock pendant is dangling from my neck. “It’s Time,” the Lord says to me. “Time for what?” I ask as I take the clock in my hand and rub my fingers across the face. As I worship, the Lord reveals a picture to me. Once again, I am in the river. A swirling circle of water shapes this section of the river into a perfect circle. Suddenly, roman numeral numbers appear on top of the water forming a clock in the circle. Jesus, standing right next to me in the center of the river, turns to me and takes me in his arms. He gently touches my neck anointing my voice for Him. Light goes all around me, out of my mouth, and then beams of light shoot to the sky from each of the roman numerals. He then says to me, “It’s time for you to shine. Use your voice for me.”
As I contemplate what this means for me and for the remainder of the race, Sam begins her session on vulnerability. “The enemy uses strings like a marionette doll and each one is a type of fear,” she says. When she finishes, her last words ring in my ear loud and clear, “It’s Time.” I have to go up there. I have to share. Heart pounding and knees moving, vulnerability becomes real. I stand in front of the entire squad and reveal my insecurities about singing and learning how to play an instrument. I break the strings of the enemy and claim it all for the Lord.
It’s time for Jesus to shine through me through music.
After I share, one by one, each person in my squad shares their insecurities and deepest fears. This is an excerpt from my journal from that night:
“Ok Lord, so this was a crazy crazy session. This is just nuts. You are sweeping through our squad in waves of love. You are freeing us from fear and strongholds one thing at a time.” My love for each person on my squad grew so much deeper that night.
It’s Februaty 8th. Megan opens up session with creative worship. We each sit with the Lord and start drawing and painting what the Lord is showing us. I start with the cross. I draw the light going out from it to the east and to the west symbolizing the change that happened when Jesus rose from the grave. I then draw rocks at the foot of the cross. As I pray, the Lord shows me the words to put on each rock: fear, love, perfectionism, hope, doubt, dream, and people pleasing. The Lord is calling me to give each of these things to Him this year, one at a time.
Sam starts the session saying, “Get in the river. This is living in a posture of intimacy. Abide in Him. We cannot do human effort with a Jesus cherry on top,” she continues. “Joy is what held Jesus on the cross: the joy of us and a relationship with us.” Then she listed 7 spiritual pathways in which we connect with the Lord.
- Aesthetic – Majestic Qualities of God, Tradition, Art, Hymns, Architecture
- Worship – Want to Feel God, Emotion and Experience Driven
- Activist – Servant, Achievement, Social Justice,
- Contemplative – Listen More than Talk, Focus on Inside
- Student – Truth, Doctrine, Books, Theology
- Relational – Love, Community, Verbal Processors, High Touch, Share, Don’t Like to Be Alone
- Naturalist – Creation, Nature Points to God
As I think about these pathways, I realize that I use most of them naturally, but that I would like to grow in the Student, Relational, and Aesthetic pathways. As I think about these pathways, my team, and what God is showing me in my life, I am brought back to my drawing. “It’s time,” the Lord says to me. I draw a bird above the cross. I then draw a clock at the top of the page around the bird. “It’s time to fly,” he tells me. The next day our team would change our name to Monarch.
My Dad’s Oil Painting that Won a Gold Medal, Painted Before the Team Name Change
