How The World Race Has Changed My Life

How has the World Race changed my life?

Honestly, this is a hard question to answer. How hasn’t it changed my life is more like it but as I still process this year and everything that God has done I’ll do my best to give you a brief highlight of the major areas that were truly life-changing.

Trusting that the Lord’s plan and will are still good no matter the circumstances.

This goes all the way back to last year, in 2020, when the journey first began. I started The World Race then knowing that this was for sure what God wanted me to do during this current season of my life but that season ended as quickly as it started. After about two and half months we were sent back home because of the rise and spread of COVID. I made it back home with little to no closer sitting in my room shell-shocked and in denial of what just occurred. It was during this time I really had to press in and trust God that it wasn’t the end and that He still had plans even though the future was such an unknown because of the situation then so no one knew if we were going to relaunch or not. Regardless of how I felt or what I thought, with the Lord’s help and stubborn resilience of refusing to accept that this was the end of the journey, I stood firm trusting that I would still have the opportunity to go back out on the field. By the grace of God as well as the willingness of leadership we got the green light to go back out and even though it wasn’t with my previous group, the Lord blessed me with yet another group of amazing individuals in which I truly enjoyed living this past year with. That rolls into where I’m at now.

Since last year there were a lot of unknowns, uncertainties, and upsets. the biggest thing I learned with that was everywhere we went, even if it wasn’t a part of our plans, God revealed that it was exactly where He wanted us based on the divine encounters with people we met and the events that took place. Coincidences don’t exist within the Kingdom of God, no, only purpose and reason because God has a plan for every little thing within our life no matter how small or unfair it may seem there’s always a greater picture that we may not see yet. 

So, no matter what my circumstances looked like this year I know without a doubt that each and every one of them had a purpose even if I missed out on it, God still moved and made a huge impact within my life. I learned to trust Him more even if I didn’t want to because His plans are far better than mine and living life in the unknown just makes it more interesting and lively. He’s full of sweet surprises where there is never a dull moment because everything that needs to happen happens within His perfect timing.

I encourage you to trust Him because He’s a good Father who has great things for His children as long as you choose to invite and partner with whatever He has going on. Trust me it’s worth it. He’s worth it. You’re worth it.

The importance of a solid community and your identity.

Throughout the year I spent a balanced time going back and forth with relying upon God with whom He has made me be while operating in the gifts and talents He has given me by boldly stepping out in these things as well as yielding to other people and defaulting to their talents letting them lead the way in things as I played a more backseat passive roll.

It’s natural to submit, yield to, and become dependent on stronger personalities, and those who are socially more confident naturally initiate conversations by being the main person others will flock to because of the high charisma and people skills they have. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this but it does become a problem with those who are seemingly weaker on the social scale because they become easily overshadowed or lack the self-confidence to speak up and hold their own and are quick to shy away due to their insecurities when a more dominant person comes around.

This has affected, not only my interaction with people but also my walk with God by questioning my standing with Him as well as the very promises and talents He has given me. I know God’s truth, who He is and who I am as well as what I truly believe. With that, I still struggled with the confidence in conversations to share about the great news of freedom and salvation that Christ brings us. This is where I just let others around me have those tough conversations and just reaped the benefits of their progress.

Even though I struggled with this God has been very gracious and patient with me by putting me with an amazing group of people who won’t allow anyone to settle for less while calling out our fullest potential with the highest forms of encouragement and accountability. It’s thru these people as well as God Himself that I was able to drastically abolish those insecurities and walk freely with the boldness of who I am and offer to others what God has given me by not withholding anymore the very thing others needed from me during the much needed times it was needed.

I am a force to be reckoned with who will continue to move forward paving the way for others, by example, to not be afraid of what God has in store no matter how intimidating it may be. I still fail at this from time to time but I am constantly encouraged to keep initiating and trusting God with every interaction and conversation.

It’s okay to fail just make sure you fail well because it’s in our weakest moments that God is most glorified.

Appreciating brokenness and the importance of vulnerability.

I won’t expound too much on my journey with brokenness since I’m currently in the middle of writing another blog about it and how it has truly affected my life and perspective with God but I’ll give a quick overview of the importance of it and why you shouldn’t run from it.

The Race has taught us three major processes that we go thru in our walk with God. Abandonment, brokenness, and dependency. We learn that as we live life with God that there are things that inevitably get in the way of our relationship with Him and if we truly want to grow deeper with that relationship then we need to give up and abandon certain things for Him. Either by our own will and choice or by Him revealing what needs to be removed. After that comes the brokenness where we reach places of being utterly wrecked before Him acknowledging how finite we are and how lost and broken the world truly is without God. It’s during these states of brokenness that God seemingly is closest to us since He tells us that He is close to the brokenhearted. It’s true because He has wrecked me countless times throughout this year and it’s during those moments He has revealed some hard truths and realities to me that can not be remedied except by Him and Him alone.

It’s sweet though because the burdens I feel lift away and the tears I shed wash my heart clean with a fresh outpouring of His love for me and others by letting me know that everything will be okay but there is still work to do.

Being broken before the Lord is a place where we get realigned to His greater purpose and helps keep us in check if we’re getting too full of ourselves or off track.

With that, it’s where I realize I can’t do anything on my own except to totally trust, rely and depend upon God to get it done. I have to be completely honest and vulnerable not just with myself but with God and others around me. It’s through this vulnerability that we are able to find true peace in the hardest of circumstances because you’re no longer deceiving yourself saying that all is okay and trying to handle the issues alone but can confidently say I’m not okay and know how good God is that you will be okay because of Him and then you’re able to lean on Him during the hardest times.

Life sucks but is also so beautiful.

The more honest and vulnerable we can be with ourselves the better our relationship will be with God and the people around us. Stop acting like all is well when it’s not, you’re only exhausting yourself.

All in all, being broken and vulnerable actually brings forth true freedom because then there’s nothing to hide or to keep holding onto with the little bit of strength you don’t have. Just trust God knowing that He’s bigger than our personal issues and even the issues of the world. Remember what Jesus said, “It is finished”. So let’s stand in that victory that’s already before us.

Just be real. Tears are good.

Never-ending change: the journey of a lifetime.

There are so many more ways that Race has changed my life and I am still processing everything. I’ll have a more in-depth response later after I get home and can go a little deeper with some visuals to show you as well. For now, I hope this can paint a small picture of what The World Race has to offer. It’s not just traveling the world sharing the good news of Jesus. It’s growing in your relationships, being open and honest with yourself and others, realizing that what you think you know isn’t close to the actual realities at hand, seeing yourself for who you truly are, as well as learning how to live and love each other well in a large community while in close proximity and how challenging yet fruitful it is and much much more.

This is a fantastic opportunity to see the world and all its wonders but also see how God is moving in the most unorthodox and unique ways doing whatever it takes to increase His kingdom because time is ticking and there’s a lot to be done.

I’ll end it here because well time is of the essence and I have too much to share that this blog can not contain. Love you and thank you for reading. Be blessed and I challenge you if anything to challenge your faith and to be honest with yourself. People-pleasing is a disease that affects our perspective of ourselves and what God is truly doing. We are here to please God not man and if you’re pleasing man then you’re missing out on some great opportunities God has for you.

Just a thought.

I say this because you matter and that there’s so much this life and world have to offer. All we must do is release it all to God, trust it, and go on the greatest adventure we could ever dream of. It’s okay to tell people no. A yes to God is a million times more worth it.