Preparing for the Unknown

Hello everyone!

I wanted to post an update on how my life has been going since I received news of the World Race. I got to meet a new brother in Christ yesterday. (Monday, May 24th). His name is Brett Haas. He will be on my team over the next year. I am super thankful for yesterday. I got to hear a bit of his story, and I got to share mine. We got to mountain bike through the Smokey Mountains and see God’s creation. Towards the end of the 16.5-mile ride, my legs locked up and I couldn’t walk. I am going to be honest. I can not remember having cramping pain in my legs that severe in my life until that moment. It lasted for a few minutes. I remember briefly closing my eyes and asking the Lord to take away the pain. I kid you not, right after I prayed, I was able to get up and walk without pain. I can not explain it at all. Praise the Lord for that! I have not had any cramps since that moment. In the end, we got to meet this awesome person. Her name is Megan. We got to talk with her and pray with her. It’s amazing how God can lead us into others’ lives that we’ve never met before, and have moments like that where we can pray and encourage each other. Brett and I got to share our blogs with her too. Haha. So Megan, if you’re reading this, I hope you are doing well, and we are so thankful that the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to meet you! 

This morning I got to meet with my friend Matt for coffee. He goes to my church, and I was so thankful to get to know him better and hear some of his story! One of the things that came up was when I shared my trip to Guatemala in 2019 with him. Specifically in regards to the TRUE joy that comes in knowing Jesus Christ. In Guatemala the people had nothing, but they had SO much joy because they knew Jesus! They did not have the distractions of wealth and materialistic things in their life like we do in this country. I want people to experience that same joy that I saw in the people of Guatemala.

I want to share some scripture from Deuteronomy:

1“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word^a that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. 6So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

11“Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

When Moses and the Israelites escaped from Egypt, they were in the wilderness for 40 years! God provided for them through all of the ups and downs over those 40 years. When we start to have all these nice things in our lives, it is so easy to get distracted from the most important relationship in our lives. The One who can give and take everything away, and that is The Lord our God. I want people to know that true joy is not in the things we have, but in the relationship that we have with Jesus and serving him! I desire to be a part of what God is doing to reach His children! I want to see the joy in the people I will be serving just like I saw in the people of Guatemala. It brings me joy knowing I will get to be a part of that! I know there will be struggles, but I know God is the ultimate provider for my life. There is joy in the struggles of our lives. It’s in those struggles that bring us closer to Him. People’s eternities matter more than my comfortability!

Prayer Requests:

1.) Prayer for God to lead many people into my life that I can serve, share the gospel, and encourage. Not only when I leave the United States, but leading up to that time too. 

2.) Prayer for God’s guidance for all of my team as we prepare to launch overseas on August 6th.