Dear Gap Year 2023,
Get ready for the craziest nine months of your life. Filled with laughter, tears, smiles, running, jumping, screaming, challenges, community like no other, no alone time, dirty clothes, random food, conversations not in your language, God’s people, and the sweet Father himself.
I know you are probably dreaming of the day that launch roles around and let me tell you I know all about that. All the nerves wondering what the heck to actually pack, who you will be super close with, what the dynamic of the squad will be like, how the heck to fundraise $16,000!!! I get it. Wild times as you prepare for this sweet journey.
Let me leave you with this. Have no expectations for what your race will look like. Comparison is such a thief at what God is going to be doing amongst your squad and within you. Love each and every single squad mate with all you have. Be as you as God made you to be from the beginning. Say YES to what God is inviting you into from the very start. The nine months will stretch you mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually but if you let it I promise it is worth it. Your ways will be challenged and the way you think will be challenged but what a sweet time to grow. Soak in the moments where you are covered in mud, sweat, dirt, etc because I promise you will miss it when it’s gone. Soak up all of training camp where life may not look like how you would have imagined. It flies by. When you feel like the ministry you are doing is pointless and you feel stuck in the mundane choose to enjoy it. The mundane is where you can see a whole different aspect of the Lord. When you have no alone time ever soak it up. You will miss it when it is gone. When you are having bad mental health days communicate that. Let those around you in because it makes the world of a difference. When you feel like ministry isn’t what you wanted or pictured press into it more than ever because God is moving big time I promise you that. The next nine months will be the hardest and sweetest months of your life. You will never live in a community like this in this circumstance ever again. You will probably never see some of the people you are ministering to ever again. You are getting to experience God in so many new and fresh ways. I encourage you to choose Jesus each and everyday. I encourage you to love your people even when it’s hard. Choose Him. Now get ready for a wild nine months gap 23. Beyond proud of you for saying yes. It is more than worth it.
