Growing Weed God

Almaty, Kazakhstan

We arrived very late at the house we are staying just outside of Almaty. It’s not really close to anything so we can’t simply walk to the city center like we were able to do in Bishkek.

Since we are blessed to stay here for free, we are compensating them by doing yard work: sticks needed to be gathered, the driveway needed to be weeded, and then the yard waste needed to be disposed.

We started later in the morning so we were able to enjoy the balmy ninety-five degree weather. The driveway looked like a little jungle.

“This isn’t going to make a difference.”

“This is going to take forever.”

Some of my teammates were not optimistic about what the results of our labor would be, but sure enough, one weed at a time the place looked so much better. It only took a few hours and we had that driveway looking fit for a Ferrari.

As I was pulling weeds, I allowed God to remind me of a lesson I learned when I was very young: Sin is the same way in life, you have to pull it out by the root or else you’re going to continue to fight the symptoms instead of the—wait for it—root of the problem.

BEFORE

AFTER

I’ve been learning on this journey how important my thought life is. We used to have this cheesy poster on the wall in high school that said, “Thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become your character.” Or something along those lines and it’s true.

I’ve shared before in my blog in Australia about my struggle with vengeance; I imagine bad things happening to people that hurt me. Imagination is a great tool for creativity and what not, but not for secretly carrying out vendettas in your mind.

Slowly, God has been helping me retrain my thought life and “captivating” those thoughts when they start to happen. I started to realize how often and how frequent they were. I had created a pattern in my mind that I didn’t know I had! 

Just like weeding that driveway, God has been working along side me these past eight months helping me pluck out those thoughts one at a time. I could’ve just accepted defeat and been like, “This isn’t going to make a difference. This is going to take forever. This is just the way I am.” But God sees the bigger picture. Maybe to us it’s just one thought, but to Him it’s a step in obedience and honors Him.

The difference in my life is tangible. I have experienced such peace that I haven’t felt in a long time. I’ve allowed God to heal wounds in my heart that have been festering because I allowed my thoughts to dwell in places where they shouldn’t have been. I walk in true joy and that is making all the difference on my team, my squad, and I plan to walk out for the rest of my days.

However, the rest of my days on the Race are limited. I only have three months left to raise the full amount of $18,700 and I am only $1,284 away. If you would consider giving, it would help immensely. Thank you!