Abandonment: "The process of taking our hands off of what we have been holding onto" (Seth Barnes). This week can be described with one word, abandonment. The World Race is an act of abandonment and leaving every single comfort we have behind. Our beds are changed to sleeping pads. Our room switched to tents and bed sheets are turned to sleeping bags. Our closets are now squished into a 65 liter backpack that we now carry on our backs. As racers we are abandoning everything, our family and friends, our favorite foods, our every day routines, and our comfort is left behind.

But our reward of abandoning everything is so sweet.

This week I was definitely feeling the loss of things. Missing my family, my bed, my mama's cooking, my church, playing pool with my family, and everything that is familiar to me. For the past week in Georgia it has been pouring rain, so in result my tent got SUPER wet. My stuff was damp and I was in constant anxiety that I will wake up with everything flooded so I was not able to get good sleep. The enemy was definitely stirring up some things because I thought "I could be in my bed right now instead of the middle of the woods sleeping in a damp tent." I was beginning to feel sad about everything I abandoned back home. As I spent some time with the Lord, I felt like He was telling me to lean on Him and cast all my anxieties on Him.

Although it continued to pour, the Lord provided a couple who so thoughtfully provided their home for us tonight! The Lord is so good! Along with the rain, we got our teams!! I will be spending 8 weeks with 5 lovely ladies! I will be ministering and living with Maggie, Amy, Mikahla, and Micah. It was so exciting and so right for all of us to be together.

Please pray for us as we are traveling to Guatemala on Sept 12 and will be there for 8 weeks. Pray for safe travels while we go and for our team to be a blessing to each ministry we partner with. Miss you all! And God bless!