You ever meet someone & instantly know that you would take a bullet for this person if it came down to it? You don’t know what the connection really is, how it happened or what it means but there’s just a soft spot in your heart for them.
This is how I’ve felt about my friend Josie since the day I met her. (Would she say the same? Probably not… but that’s beside the matter hahaha!) We arrived at training camp in January of this year. After a couple days of knowing our 10 squad mates, we were asked who we think we are most likely to become real close friends with & my answer was Josie, without a thought.
She didn’t carry any attributes or characteristics of really being my friend at the time. We didn’t have much in common, she answered my questions with short answers & didn’t ever seem interested. She didn’t have that one other friend to hang around at camp so she usually just slept wherever there was a vacant spot & stood in the back during worship, observing the environment. These moments were probably as close I got to her. I would see her in the back & go stand by her. I was content.
Right before launching to Guatemala, our teams and roles were revealed to us. Josie & I were put on different teams which was a bummer but we got the same role so, as the storytellers, we got to work together in our own group chat to tell the story of our squad’s mission trip. The few times we got to see each other throughout Guatemala, we always had something in common to talk about, story telling. It was my way in. Not to mention, I got the random opportunity to ride along & visit her family in Guatemala to see more inside her life.
Towards the end of Guatemala, we got to share a room at the hostel during our debrief & were soon put on a team together. I was excited to finally be together all the time. There were many moments where I didn’t really know if she necessarily even liked me or not but I did not care. I chose to pursue her nonetheless. From the beginning, the Lord had so deeply planted this seed of hope, boldness, love & friendship in me for Josie.
Deep down, I saw a girl who was broken. When I looked at her the first day of training camp, I saw me. I saw the wall & the front that I tried to put up for so long. The one that tells the world that everything is great, the one that only sticks to the familiar faces not to make things messy & complicated & the one who doesn’t get too close & struggles to show affection from fear of being rejected for it. I saw what looked like a rose bud. It was a rose so, of course is was beautiful but its purpose was not to stay in that state forever but to bloom into something even more beautiful. This is exactly what I got to be a part of throughout the entirety of The World Race. I got to watch Josie bloom.
There were many milestones I got to witness like the time in Swazi when she told our squad that she realized her closed-offness to friendship from all of us & decided to get water baptized as a declaration of walking anew with the Lord. I got to watch her walk around the living room at our debrief in South Africa & give every single person a hug, apologizing for the ways that she has withheld love & affection from each one of us. And soon after that, I got to watch her step into the squad leader role. The girl who wanted nothing to do with anyone on the squad now was put in a role where her ministry became every single person on the squad. I know her yes wasn’t easy but it was God’s plan all along.
As we went around the room the other day as a squad, spending time processing, we each shared a testimony of what we’ve seen the Lord do in our lives while being on the mission field. My teammates shared amazing things like being revealed God’s peace, growing in hearing & knowing God’s voice as well as growth in acting in obedience & boldness. Josie’s turn came around & her response shifted the room. “When this entire Race is finished, I hope that you guys see that I am the testimony, that I am the fruit that came out of every single person here.” She brought an entirely new perspective to the room.
What Josie was talking about was the entire meaning of being called on the race. It was to be used as a vessel in planting seeds so that lives could be transformed by Jesus. I was awestruck at the sound of her answer. I had been so focused on what God was doing outside of our group that I overlooked the fruit that bear right before our eyes & along the entire journey.
God brought Josie not only to Guatemala but to Swaziland, South Africa, Vietnam, Thailand AND Cambodia to reveal who He created her to be. Josie is a fearless leader. She is constantly seeking the Lord’s guidance, a woman of discernment, a carrier of power & authority & a huge lover. She is confident in who she is in Christ, she befriends children like no other & has a gift for teaching.
This was written to brag about my friend a little, yes, but mostly to wake us up & bring awareness to the work that God is doing in the people before our eyes. It is an encouragement to pursue those who have literally build a brick wall between you & them. It is a testimony to reveal how good & powerful our God is. There is no human strategy that could have been thought of to produce the fruit that God did through binding our squad together even if it was for the sake of one person. His plans are incomprehensible most of the time but gosh, they are worth trusting by faith.
“Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.””
John 13:7
Love you always Josie!
<3 P
