It has been a journey with the Lord in discovering what comes after this 9 month (now 18 month) journey with the World Race, but I have come to a place of deeper surrender, peace, and excitement for what the Lord has for me.
I came into this year asking the question, “How do I live a sustainable missional lifestyle now to prevent burn out at the end of the year?” My Goal was not, necessarily, to lead racers for another 9 months, but rather I did not want to get burnt out of living on mission for the Lord. Little did I know then that God was putting that question in mind to prepare me for this coming year.
Fast forward to South Africa where I am on a plane talking to Jesus. I am asking Him about what’s next and hear Him say, “If I ask you to squad lead again, I will be with you”.
Awesome! “God is always with me and He is not actually asking me to squad lead again, He is just showing me that He will be with me wherever He takes me,” or so I thought.
Fast forward again to Guatemala where it is starting to be crunch time to have an answer to everyone who asks me, “So, what’s next?” The most common of my answers was “I don’t know. Just waiting on and trusting the Lord.”
*Queue heart beating fast and me JUST wanting to have confirmation for what’s next.*
Jesus gave me 2 dreams in Guatemala. One where I was the locomotive of a train, and I was pulling many train cars behind me. I had this first dream, wrestled with what the Lord was saying about it, was told by God to “wait”, I waited and learned to surrender in the waiting, then I eventually had a second dream.
In the second dream I was with a leadership team and I was singled out for following Jesus where I was then interrogated about following Him. Sometimes the Lord gives me dreams but not the interpretation. Instead, He had me share it with several other people, each giving me interpretations that lined up with another.
Putting these two dreams together, I was asked by one of the Agape Guppies, “Have you thought about squad leading for the route that goes to the 10/40 nations?”
The 10/40 is the longitude and latitude window of the world that has the most people unreached by the gospel.
The Lord confirmed over and over again what He was saying, and it became time for me to trust His word and apply to squad lead.
I think the Lord intentionally had me wait before applying though. Going back to the time in between having the first and the second dream, I felt anxious to know what the Lord had for me. I was thinking about the future A LOT as a way to know that there was really something out there for me. God showed me this and I realized that I was not surrendered in what was to come. I learned deeper than ever that our waiting is always for a purpose. It is for preparation. The Lord was preparing me to surrender my future that I may walk into the next season fully surrendered to Him. When I fully gave my future over to the Lord I didn’t automatically get the answer the next morning. No. I got to enjoy the waiting. It was an experience that I never thought I could have. For the first time ever, I felt free not to think about what was next. But God in His reassuring kindness, gave me a little something to show me that He did have a very specific plan for me but it just was not time for me to know yet.
Fast forward to just a couple weeks ago, I got a call from one of the incoming mentors relaying the news that I will be on her squad! I will be going to Nicaragua, South Asia, Nepal, and Eswatini. This is the exact route the Lord was speaking about through the second dream. Both South Asia and Nepal are in the 10/40 window. It is faith building to see that God has confirmed His word! He asked me to squad lead again, and I am grateful for His promise to be with me in it.
If you are a person of prayer, please be praying for my heart to be filled up in this preparation season and for financial provision.
If you feel a nudge to give you can do so here! https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/2024-world-race-gap-year-24g09-leaders/participants/sadie-showalter2
Thanks for following along!
All my love,
Sadie Show.
