The Whole of Us

I’m going to be honest. Travelling for an entire year is not something I’d ever really thought about nor dreamt of. When Tom suggested it, I not only couldn’t see it as a possibility for our family, but I wasn’t even sure I’d want it. I had a long list of reasons why full time travel was a bad idea.

As we played with the idea, my extensively thought out ‘no’ column had a lot going for it. Namely how terrifying the world looked to me. It was a complete unknown and I had a lot of fear around the concept. After a year of big personal and professional changes the thought of taking off on a fairly last-minute, risky, overwhelming and exhausting galavant around the globe held pretty much zero appeal to me. Yet, the idea remained.

On a happy morning in September sitting down enjoying my quiet time, the idea of world travel popped into my brain again. Sigh. I began journalling, writing down my list and pouring out my heart and worries to Jesus. I said to Him ‘Father the world just seems so unsafe to me right now, I just don’t know it.’

He replied ‘I know it and I love it.’

Everything shifted in that moment. I felt Him issue me an invitation. ‘What if you let go? What if you trust me completely? What if you grab my hand and let me take you on an adventure? What if I am your only comfort, safety and perfect presence? What if this is the very thing that brings you alive again and propels you forward.’

The set-up was clear. God has been plowing the ground for this very moment. He had been stripping off and allowing us to surrender every single thing that would keep us from making this decision that seemed so utterly crazy to me. In that moment, it suddenly didn’t feel so crazy. In fact as we looked at our options of ‘what’s next’ it seemed like the only one that made sense. We were going to do this. We are doing this. A week of praying and asking God for confirmation and we had our answer. It was a go!

Since that moment we haven’t looked back once. I’ve had moments of sadness as I imagine leaving our home, our friends and family. But in Gods typical kindness I sense a slow letting go and saying goodbye of this familiarity for at least a year.

When you get the go, you throw everything at it. You make a decision that you can’t walk back from easily. Leasing our house was this for us. Within a couple of weeks we had tenants lined up and ready to go. No backing out now. The rental agreement is for 13 months. I don’t know if we travel that whole time. I don’t know if we get a couple of months in and the plan shifts again, but what I do know is our yes to Jesus has changed everything. Faith requires risk. It requires action and a willingness to go beyond what makes sense. It requires boldness and I believe bravery. It’s thrilling and uncomfortable and dripping in peace.

Along with our decision to travel was the creation of ‘The Whole of Us’. Using social media and blogging we plan to share our process and journey as we explore the world. We want to remain humble and vulnerable to the fathers heart. We want to flow with the purpose of listening and obeying his voice. We want to document and record the ups and downs because that is life, that is humanity and it requires authenticity and courage.

We are excited. We are nervous. But mostly we are so covered by peace and thoroughly believing that the best is yet to come!

Kelsey

xx