Hey! I’ve been back in the states attempting to adjust back into normalcy here, so I took a bit of a break from the blogs. But dang something about sitting down and writing here feels good to my soul! 

Being home has had its fair share of ups and downs; honestly, more downs than ups. And more honestly, I’ve been a bit of a wreck the last few weeks of being home. It’s so challenging because I feel like an alien here! Like somebody who’s just experienced a whole new world and then has to come back and try to be normal again and it doesn’t work like that. How am I supposed to spend six months encountering God like never before and having my eyes open to how desperately we all need Jesus and then just come home and act like everything is okay when everything is so far from okay? Anyways, I know you’re here to read about what I’m doing now, and please just keep reading, I promise I’m getting there. 

When I left for the race I had every single intention of attending college in the fall, but in January of my race the Lord put something else on my heart. I wish I could say that that was that! That the Lord called me into something and that I immediately said yes to it, but that is not how this happened. I guess something that I should mention is that I actually have a really really hard time allowing my life to not really be mine. It's difficult for me to remember that this life is not about me, and extremely easy for me to get caught up in the “me” of it all. So when the Lord called me into something other than college, it was really hard. Hard for me to let go of my own agenda and allow the Lord to fully have His way with my life. I’ve spent almost seven months praying about my next step and literally wrestling with the Lord over it. But it’s funny when the Lord calls us into things. When He makes what we’re supposed to do so abundantly clear to us that not doing it would be like looking at God in the face, yelling “NO!” and running away. The verse that I have been continuously reminded of over the last 7 months of making this decision is Matthew 6:33-34  “But ABOVE ALL, pursue His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.”

So, with all of that being said, I will be spending the next five months in Gainesville, Georgia; attending a leadership school through Adventures in Missions, the same program that I did my race through! The school I will be attending is called Center for Global Action, or CGA for short. CGA is a discipleship/leadership school specifically for alumni racers. It will challenge me to learn how to step further into leadership roles by learning how to know myself, lead myself, and then go out and lead others. This program will give me the tools that I need to walk through healing, to solidify my identity in Christ, and to ultimately be able to walk in boldness and leadership in a Jesus-like way in the “real world.” 

The  fun and also really scary part about this is that I get to fundraise for it! Honestly my biggest turn off from this program was the fundraising aspect, because it’s scary. BUT I watched the Lord provide in CRAZY ways through fundraising for my race and I’m confident that He will do the exact same thing again. The total amount that I need to fundraise is $5,950, which covers the cost of classes and housing, and I'm supposed to have $2,000 raised in the next two weeks. I can’t even begin to explain how much faith it takes to ask for support and how scary it is for me to just sit at the Lord’s feet and trust that He will provide, but here I am! If you are interested in partnering with me financially through either a one time donation or a monthly partnership, let me know! I would be honored to talk to you about it and answer any questions you may be having. 

I’m not going to lie to you, this next season is really really scary for me. Choosing into CGA instead of college this semester is something that my family is not in support of, which has caused a lot of heartache on both ends. I don’t know what the Lord is going to do in the next 5 months or why I feel like He has such a favor over my life, but I trust Him fully and I think it's going to be extraordinary. I would love prayers for financial provision, for boldness and courage over me, and for peace and understanding over my family. Thanks for reading and praying and supporting, I’m overwhelmingly blessed to have a platform like this to share my heart on.