Race Updates & Life Lately

I officially have less than 100 days left of undergrad and I cannot believe it. This season of life has been so sweet and as this part of my story comes to a close, the next season is just beginning.

The World Race is just around the corner and our missionary team recently received some important (and exciting) updates regarding our travel plans. With the current state of the pandemic and ever changing international travel regulations, the reality of traveling to 11 countries is not feasible right now. In light of this information, we will instead be living in 6 countries over the course of the year, with each stay lasting approximately 2 months. This will allow us to plant deeper roots and establish more meaningful relationships with the people we meet in each community.

We will spend our year in four primary regions: the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Central America. With the tentative countries being Jordan, Kosovo, Romania, Albania, Thailand, and Guatemala. Of course these plans are also subject to change between now and when we fly out at the end of August. But for now, we’re just rolling with the punches and remaining flexible.

Aside from all of the World Race updates though, the Lord has been teaching me so many things in regard to faithfulness as I prepare to head overseas.

Faithfulness is an ongoing practice of long obedience in the same direction. Yet so often, we have the tendency to build our lives out of a place of control rather than a place of faithfulness. We forget that a life reaching for control only ends in destruction, whereas a life of faithfulness leads to favor (Proverbs 3:3-4).

We live in a world where our attention is readily stolen by the distractions of life. Without the intentionality of a daily surrender, our lives drift back to current of the world. The things we commit to/give our time to are evidence of what we prioritize/value most. Therefore, our attention is a direct representation of what we are faithful to.

Specifically, the Lord has been showing me that to be faithful requires an auditing of our thought life. Everything we do, say, and think first originates as a thought. If we are unable to take our thoughts captive and delineate the good fruit from the bad, by default the good fruit in time will eventually rot. This practice doesn’t simply mean we ignore the lies, but rather redirect them to towards truth and chose to surrender our thoughts to God.

The God we surrender our lives to is compassionate. He was tempted in every way (Hebrews 4:15) which means he understands the struggles we endure and he promises to help us (1 Corinthians 10:13). In Romans 4, we see the difficulties that stood in the way of Abraham’s faith (v. 18-22), but against all odds he had assured confidence in God’s promises. He was faithful despite his circumstances, which only led to God’s favor over his life. The way we react when we face trials, like Abraham did, speaks volumes to what we believe about God (1 Peter 1:6-7, Romans 5:3-4).

Hebrews 11:6 says “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him”. What we seek reveals the intentions of our heart. Often we think we can live the life we were meant to live, all while relying on the inadequate resources of our own wisdom, experience, righteousness, and strength. Thankfully though, we serve a God who humbly rescues us from our limiting perspective to reveal his intention for our lives. When we let God lead us, we are able to live a life that far supersedes anything we could have possibly imagined (Ephesians 3:20).

At the end of the day faithfulness is not about maintaining a perfect, blemish free life  before God. But rather, faithfulness is about the intention behind every one of our actions and the ability to humbly ask the Lord to redirect our steps when we get blown off course.