Stepping Into More

One thing that I love about the race is that it’s not all there is to life.  It’s reassuring to know that there’s more out there.

That may seem like a strange thing to be thankful for, but it’s real.  At training camp, we were told that sometimes people get sucked into the bubble of the race and it’s not too hard to see why.  It truly is a once in a lifetime experience in the most amazing ways and it has delivered so much more than I could’ve ever hoped for.

But what I like is that the race pushes me to even more- more beyond the race and ultimately more for The Kingdom.

In Guatemala, I got many opportunities to step out of my comfort zone and into what God was calling me into.  One of the main things I got to step into was learning how to use my voice.  My first main step into that was a time that my team talked at a small event about what living as a team looks like. Shortly after, I gave a short devo at soccer practice with a group of kids.  Those experiences lead up to me gaining the courage to speak at squad church one Sunday. All of those times eased me through a process of speaking out, starting with few people and a short amount of time and reaching a point where I could talk to a group of all of my peers and deliver a whole message. I love seeing my growth in that area and seeing the ways God is working in me as I serve others.

In my current season in Romania, I am, of course, stepping into new things and I’m really excited about them. In the last few months, God has been showing me how to take the things that I’m growing in while being here, and walk them out in life after the race.  Specifically, God’s given me a lot of ideas and visions for what I can bring to the summer camp that I work at (shoutout to Camp Table Rock :)).  I won’t spoil the surprise for those of you who will be part of that vision, but I will say, it’s why I’m so excited about what I’m stepping into right now.

Recently, our squad’s team leaders told us we ‘had things to talk about’ and needed to sit down together during team time to watch a video from our mentors.  Everyone was guessing what they were going to announce, but given what was coming, we would’ve never gotten it right.  Our leaders told us they’re stepping back from their responsibilities and basically handing us the reigns.  They gave our team a list of the roles they usually take on as team leaders and sent us into a time to pray about how to divide them amongst the team.  We were all pretty shocked by that news and met it with mixed emotions between each of us.  I was immediately excited to have the opportunity to step into something new and grow in a new way.  Even before I knew what role I was going to take on, I could tell it was going to be a great experience; and since knowing my role, my excitement has only grown.

During our prayer time, I thought back to training camp when the roles that racers normally get to take on were being given to the squad.  At that time, I felt so in over my head, I didn’t think I could handle having one of those responsibilities.  God knew what He was doing with that, of course, because I didn’t get a role and that has been used to grow me.  I’ve been able to serve the squad in less structured ways and step into more informal roles in ministry.  However, this time around, I knew God was wanting to challenge me.  As I was reading through the list of roles that I could potentially take on, there were a few that caught my eye as things that I knew I could do well.  When I asked God what role He wanted me to take on, He told me that choosing one of those would be a cop-out or a way for me to not accept the challenge he wanted to place on me.  Yes, I could do them, and most likely do them well, but that wasn’t the question.  I wanted to know what God had planned for me to do.

In my listening, the role of prayer & intercession stuck out to me in a different way.  That role is about organizing intentional prayer and worship time for your team to have together and God reminded me of all the things He’d placed in my heart about camp.  It excited me to see such a clear connection between what God is planning in my future and the opportunity I have to practice and work on something right now.  Prayer & intercession also wasn’t the role that seemed easiest to me.  I knew that taking on that responsibility would require effort from me, along with a lot of intentionality; and I was so ready for it.

I’ve been praying into what that looks like for me and my team because I want to accept the fullness of God’s challenge for me.  He’s given me a lot of ideas for how to walk that role out well and I’m so excited to see what He does with it.