Process

Sometimes visual depictions of spiritual truths can be super helpful. Any graph, depiction, or image of God cannot fully contain Him—similar to how a resume does not even scratch the surface of the complexity of a human being. However, visuals can be really helpful with explaining and processing our relationship with an invisible God. During the first two weeks of the World Race, my team’s squad coaches (kind and wise Keith and Karen) shared the following picture with us:

Instead of our relationship with God being some kind of upward climb, they visualized it for us as a spiral going inwards. We start on the outside, and as we grow closer to God we journey deeper and deeper into the spiral. The black marks traveling deep into the circle represent woundings and lies from the enemy. God isn’t intimidated by our wounds or the lies we believe about ourselves. He gently guides us and strengthens us through healing. However, as we journey into deeper relationship with Him, sometimes we hit the same roadblocks, the same wounds, the same lies. The enemy tries to make us believe that we are back where we started, but that is not true. The truth is that God is ushering us into deeper healing.

This spiraling journey started during training camp. I was so inspired and excited. I heard God speak through quiet times, teammates, sermons, the beauty of nature, and more. Subconsciously, I believed that I would hold tight to those truths forever and that I had almost passed a level and could move onto the next thing that God was teaching me. This is not at all the case.

All the things God spoke over me and challenged me and inspired me with in training camp are now being deepened and refined in the field. It can feel a bit overwhelming when it feels like God is teaching me so many different things at once. But God is patient and loving, and “He who has begun a good work in [me] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

Here are some of the questions I started asking at training camp:

• What is the fear of the Lord, and what does it look like?
• What is the Holy Spirit’s deal? Does He still speak? What would that look like in my life? And how can I know what He is saying is true?
• Apparently, comparison is a huge attack of the enemy. How do I fight back against this?
• I’m surrounded by strangers. Will I be able to trust, love, and do life with these people?

So, I want to welcome you into the process with me. Here are some moments and the spiraling beginning of answers that God has spoken over me the past few months:

• Surrounded by the chatter of five-year-olds, a close friend from Santiago introduces me to trauma informed care and helps me realize that the fear of the Lord is rooted in feeling safe and loved by Him.
• On the side of a cliff in Guatemala, I realize the Holy Spirit is in me and I can trust what He says as long as it is backed by His Word, the Bible.
• We serve a God of not just personal love but abundant love for all: when a teammate feels loved by God and dances in the rain, we join her and celebrate with her.
• God doesn’t want me striving but abiding: this is spoken over me so many times that it is hard to pin down a single memory. Flashes of training camp, getting up early in Jarabacoa to spend time with the Lord, waiting for a bus on the side of the road outside Damajagua, a cat purring in the hostel garden in Antigua, all of the peaceful moments and stressful moments and God wants to be a part of them all.
• Seeing reflections of God and His character everywhere, but especially in the people around me—not just teammates, but the kids at the school, the host families, the people I share chicken buses with, and more.

I feel very much in progress, which is not the most comfortable place to be. God is taking me deeper in truths that He has spoken over me, and I’m learning to hear His voice and walk in obedience. Would you be interested in being a part of this journey with me? I need partners in prayer and partners in fundraising. Praise God, I only have $1,588 left to fundraise in order to continue this eleven-month-long mission trip! If you are interested in partnering with me on this mission, please donate here:

https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/staff-support-335913882/participants/megan-dailey

I know and believe that prayer is powerful. Please partner with me in the following prayer requests:

• Prayers that my team and I would be incredibly helpful for our host family in Caminibal, Guatemala
• Prayers that our team would love each other well and make the most of the next two weeks before there are team changes. Prayers for that transition as well.
• Prayers for our eyes to be fixed on Jesus and for our ears to hear His voice
• Continued prayers for ICM and the Dominican Republic (I love and miss them so much)

Thank you so much for being a part of this process with me! I pray this blessing over you:

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26