Hey friends! This is my last blog before I launch!! As I prepare to leave in just a week, I’ve been reflecting on the past year and a half that got me here. It’s absurd how much I have learned and grown through this process of preparing, and I wanted to share a few of the biggest lessons I’ve grasped along the way.
The first is that you don’t raise $10,500 without an immense sense of gratitude. Oh my goodness, I am incredibly grateful. Grateful for those who generously gave and grateful to the Ultimate Provider for blessing me through those people. But I also learned that “gratitude not expressed is gratitude not experienced”. Fundraising was such a humbling experience and I got to practice and appreciate the art of expressing gratitude, and therefore truly experience it. This was such a fun thing to learn, and while I’m still working on it, I certainly understand it on a new level. I believe when we expectantly receive gifts, we miss the joy of truly being grateful and the joy we receive from expressing it. I’d encourage you to truly experience gratitude during this season!!
Secondly, because I knew I was being asked to GO nearly two years ago, the Lord has been teaching me to “be on mission” everyday and anywhere I am. This one has proven to be a difficult lesson, one I am still mastering. I want to be all in, absolutely sold on Jesus, but within cultural Christianity this is not the norm. I’m hopeful to keep getting better at this, to not be thrown off course due to worldly distractions.
And lastly I learned so much about myself through this preparation season. One thing World Race does is asks future racers to meet with a mentor or counselor to walk through our past experiences, so we are our most healthy and whole selves while serving overseas. I did both! I had a mentor and did counseling through Baylor, and oh my goodness I grew and learned about myself so much. This was such a great experience for me, I got to walk through some of my most difficult moments and deepest hurts from seasons when I wasn’t walking with the Lord. While this was probably my hardest step of preparation, I am so glad that I got work through those things with the Lord. The peace I feel and power I have about my testimony wouldn’t be possible without this season of growth.
I was telling someone the other day that yes, I am in fact still leaving even during the midst of the pandemic; but I had to come to a place where even if it was canceled or postponed, the growth and lessons learned through the process would outweigh the disappointment. And it’s so true, and it’s just a bonus that through the faithfulness, and kindness of the Lord, I still get to GO and be the hands and feet of Jesus.
I am so grateful. Grateful for all that the Lord has taught me already, grateful for everyone that made this possible, grateful for the next six months, and so so much more.
