How God Used the World Race to Change My Life

They say that the World Race changes people. I’ve heard the stories and I’ve read the blogs. Some people choose to use more extreme language to explain that this program wrecked or even ruined their lives. I believed them, but now that I’m reflecting on my own experience, I’m coming to the realization that I didn’t understand them. Until now. It’s not until this very moment that I’m sitting in their place with my own Race behind me and reentry mere days away that I finally understand the depth of change that comes from eleven months on the World Race. 

How, though, do I convey my newfound comprehension of this change to you, who sit in that same position that I found myself in less than a year ago? 

I’ve committed to authenticity on this platform, so my most honest answer to that question is..

I don’t know. 

*insert shruggy shoulder emoji*

But.. 

What I do know is that God used the World Race as a platform to ‘radically’ and deeply transform my life and my heart to look more like Him and His. 

The organization itself has been nothing more than a vessel in the hands of the Lord, but here is where I’ve undergone a level of transformation so extensive that some days I don’t recognize myself anymore. 

It was in this intense season that Jesus revealed lies that I’d allowed to take root, areas of my life that I’ve been unfaithful to him, and the things that I’d put on the throne in His place.

But He did that with utmost kindness and tenderness, speaking truth that brought revelation. 

Some days that truth hurt, but most days, as I allowed His words to sink in, I felt relief that truly surpasses my understanding. 

But what do I actually mean when I claim that the World Race changed me?

One of the most notable changes that I’ve recognized and have had plenty of time to process is that through the World Race, God changed my perception of the person and role of the Holy Spirit.

In Guatemala, I was exposed to a lifestyle of dependency on the Holy Spirit. My host, my team, and my local friends challenged me by unapologetically operating in their spiritual gifting with freedom that displayed a depth of intimacy in their relationships with God that was beautiful to me. The person and role of the Holy Spirit was re-defined for me here. Not by any person’s teaching or advice, but by my own examination of the scriptures bolstered by my real life experience. 

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20 

I recognized that I’d mistakenly given a lot of weight and glory to the gifts of the Spirit and the authority that we’re given when I should’ve been rejoicing in salvation that comes from Jesus. That was one of those painful revelations, but peace fell when I set my eyes and my hope on Christ moving forward. 

But what actually happened when I began to take a deep dive into the person of Jesus, was that I forgot all the things that I’d learned about the Holy Spirit. 

In the Dominican Republic I spent much of my time reading a book that propelled me into a study on who Jesus is and how we’ve allowed society to trample on His true identity to make Him look more like us. You can read about my experience with that book in my blog, “My Dry Season is Over. The Rain has Come.” For me, that also acted as the agent that bonded the triune God into one person and thrusted me into the rest of my Race with a zeal and passion for revival in the earth like I’ve never known before. 

The rest of my experience from that country forward has been kind of like a practicum or a residency of sorts, to use terms from the world of academia. God’s given me space to practice and to explore life with Him in a way that I don’t know would be so easy outside of this World Race context. And I’m thankful for that. 

I once was blind to the active ministry of the Holy Spirit, but God opened my eyes so that I could see. 

There was a time when I would wait for someone else to discern how God was asking us to move in a room, but He’s given me the confidence and knowledge to understand that the Spirit of the Living God fills me and moves through me. 

The revelation of that truth is what changed my life. 

If you’d have caught me boarding a plane to Guatemala in January, you wouldn’t have met the same guy. 

God has used my time on the World Race to change me. 

AWM