Here I am, sitting in my hotel room with a handful of my squadmates re-packing our packs, talking about our ministry contacts, and catching up on the last two months of our lives. It’s still so hard to wrap my mind around everything that has happened in the last 48 hours and as I sit here, less than 24 hours away from my first ministry day in Costa Rica – things have never felt more real.
Training for the week here in Atlanta has been super informative. We have trained corporately and we have trained individually. We have facilitated World Race scenarios and have worked through them with our leadership team. Ben and I have spent hours learning about our role as logistics coordinators and all the details of our position. Our squad leaders have spent hours training and equipping our team leaders, our team treasurers have spent hours behind computer screens filling in spreadsheets and balancing our team budget. The World Race is happening, and ready or not – we’re launching tomorrow. After tonight, it all changes; out of America I will fly and into the unknown I will land.
Through all of the training, teaching sessions and time with my squad this week I believe there is no way to be fully prepared for what I am about to experience.
Here is what Jesus has sweetly reminded me this week as I prepare to launch:
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I need to walk with confidence in the calling the Lord has placed on my life. As His daughter He has a very specific plan for my life, a plan He has for no one else; when I am made aware of that plan I need to also be aware that it may look crazy to some people. Regardless of how bizarre, how crazy, how much sense it doesn’t make to others I am willing to walk into that calling with confidence.
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I have an audience of one. When I work for the Lord, I work for Him alone. I am not working for the approval of others, the satisfaction of completing a task or even for myself; I am working for my Father and He is my only audience. The second I begin to be influenced by the other “audiences” in my life I shift my focus from my Father to the things which distract me from Him.
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I am more than the World Race. (This is the big one!) The Lord spoke this over me during worship tonight and I was reminded of how much He values my identity in Him. The World Race is not my identity. The remote villages of Uganda I have preached in are not my identity. The orphans I have held and loved and prayed for are not my identity. Social Work is not my identity. I will tell you what my identity is: daughter to the most High. The foundation of my identity rests on the events that took place on the cross 2,000 years ago. My identity is in what my Father says about me, period – not my works, not my actions, not my failures.
In less than 12 hours I will be boarding a plane to Costa Rica and walking into my first of eleven ministry locations. I have so many things I wish I could articulate for you to understand, but frankly I can’t put to words the condition of my heart. Thanks for listening, thanks for loving me and thanks for supporting me as I carry on my Father’s business.
Much Love.
Victoria
