September is here. That’s so crazy. With September beginning I am four months away from my departure from the US. With September beginning I am also just over a month away from training camp! What is training camp? Where am I going? Let me tell you a bit. Towards the end of October, I will be heading to Georgia (to a town just north of Atlanta) where I will get to meet my squad (my team) and the leaders of my team, both those traveling with me and those supporting me from the States. Training camp will include me going through discipleship training so I can best know how to exemplify the Kingdom of God, and just overall prep on what I will be encountering in the next year. In just one week, I get time to know my team, know more of the heart of the World Race, worship with fellow believers, and learn more about/grow closer to God. To say I am excited would be an understatement.
For so long, this week of training seemed so distant and far away. I remember thinking about it and thinking that it was forever away. But throughout this week some of my gear has been coming in (a tent, sleeping bag, my pack, etc), and as it has been coming in, it has been hitting me that training camp is coming way sooner than I realized. And with training camp coming soon, I will then just be a couple of months away until I leave. As I was hit with this realization, I couldn’t help but feel slightly overwhelmed. My mind began to think about all of the “what if’s.” What if I couldn’t fundraise everything? What if my body can’t physically handle this next year? What if I get sick and have to come home? What if, what if, what if. My mind was spinning with all of these questions.
Yet in that moment, in the midst of my mind feeling just a little bit chaotic, I looked up at a sign my sister has hanging up in our room and it reads “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” The moment I read those words I was hit with the realization that at the root of my “what if’s,” I didn’t feel qualified. I know that I am called to this next step, there is no doubt in my mind about that. But I don’t always feel qualified. As I read those words hanging up in my room, I realized that it doesn’t matter if I don’t feel qualified, or even if I really am qualified. As long as I am called to this ministry, this mission, this next step, God will qualify me. That is why God gave me this time at home. Time at home means time to renew and rest, while also being able to have conversations with people that push me out of my comfort zone. That is why I have a training camp. To learn more about discipleship and how to best go about that. That is why God surrounded me with people who push and encourage me. To remember that I am not alone and people are there to support me along my journey. All of these things are setting me up for this next season of my life. Whether I always realize it or not, God is qualifying me the more I trust Him and lean into His call to my life.
September is here. And with September beginning, I am leaning into the process of trusting that God is going to qualify me because I trust the calling He placed on my life.
