Team Leading !! eeeekkk !!

Friends and Family !!

 

Boy do I have some news for you. I love to let you in on a little piece of my life…

 

What the heck I am doing after the race !! 

 

The moment you’ve all been waiting for….

Drum roll please ….

I’m going to be an ALUMNI TEAM LEADER !!

This means that I will lead a group of 5 to 7 girls this upcoming fall for the first three months of their race. I get to love on them, do life alongside them, sit with them in discipleship and fellowship, and run towards Jesus together !! I will start in September and be with them until the beginning of December. During this time, we will spend a month and a half in Georgia in missional and discipleship training. Then we will spend time partnering with Samaritan’s Purse doing disaster relief and manual labor here in the United States. Then I will launch overseas with them for another 6 weeks internationally !

 

Kinda a crazy story about how I got here. 

I had a desire and peace about team leading before I even left to come on the Race. I wanted to and I thought God wanted me to – I don’t even know what Layna even knew about team leading at that point but it had to be very very very limited knowledge. 

 

But as soon as I put my feet down on the Georgia dirt and started doing the thing… I didn’t hear from the Lord about it at all. 

 

In January – I walked and wailed through a season of surrendering EVERYTHING. Team leading came up a lot.

 

Through this, I watched the Lord reveal a passion to love on high school and college-aged kids – specifically those who know the Lord and are hungry for more !! For discipleship !! For growth !! For the fullness of the Father here on earth !!

 

I now know through that separation of team leading from God-given passions that even if I didn’t team lead, I was going to love on this age group anyways. That my heart deeply desires to see this generation be poured into and challenged to bring heaven down here on earth. 

but I didn’t want to pursue team leading outside of God’s will just because I wanted to….

 

however, I noticed my desire to team lead didn’t fade away. 

So I asked the Lord if I was even allowed to want this. 

 

And after lots of talking, He said that I could pursue it in prayer. 

As I begin to pray intentionally about team leading and listening to what the Lord had to say about it – I realized I was chained down to comparison. Two distinct things came up. 

 

1. When most people talk about team leading – Ive heard multiple people say that they genuinely didn’t want to do it and then they had to choose obedience to God.

 

    That’s not my story. 

 

2. And other people have this crazy story of when God gave them this BIG ! UNDENIABLE ! YES ! That their next step was going to be team leading. 

 

    Also not my story. 

DOUBT CAME FLOODING IN. I let the enemy walk right through the front door of my heart. 

I was scared. I was waiting. My flesh desired comfort. I wanted the security of hearing the Lord tell me that this was my next step so that I knew I wasn’t going to be told no. 

My worst fear was being told no. 

I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where someone was going to tell me I wasn’t good enough again. I thought that I done so much work and growth thus far on the Race that I didn’t want to do anything that could tear that down or put me back at square one. 

 

I wasn’t willing to risk stability to blindly follow after Gods big big big plans for the life of Layna Jean. 

With the awareness of all that – I quickly said heck no. There was no way I was going to let myself sit in those lies. That was all crap and I knew it !! 

Everything that I‘ve learned in my walk with the Father is built on His firm foundation. I refused to give into the lie that God isn’t stable and I’m just too dainty. He is strong. He made me strong. I carry FORTITUDE. 

 

I wasn’t going to sit in fear thinking that there’s anything that could stop me from knowing who I am in the Lord. 

So I simply asked the Lord if I could apply to team lead. I laid down the lies, pushed past my comfort zone, and took dangerous steps towards the Father. 

I started the interview process in February. That in and of itself was refining. It was difficult to answer questions and pray profusely over something that I knew wasn’t promised to me. 

 

I had to hold a lot of balance between being excited and also guarding my heart. I was still walking through daily surrender to position my heart in a place where I was going to be just fine whether I team led or not because my eyes were solely locked on Jesus.

Hands open in full availability and submission.

Then I saw that email pop up on my phone saying…

 

Congratulations! You are invited to Alumni Team Lead !!!

I screamed for a solid 10 minutes and had an extremely difficult time trying to catch my breath after that! I knew it was a very quick and easy YES !! 

There are 6 of us from my squad that I get to continue to do life with a little while longer while also inviting in another team of ladies to join me! I dont know who will be my team of girlies or even everyone on my leadership team… so there’s more information and announcements to come soon!! However, it’s been an extremely sweet past couple of weeks as I said YES to God without all the details. I was in the same position last spring when I said YES to continue the race in the midst of Covid without knowing what I would be doing or if I’d even get the opportunity to leave the country. Wow I’m so thankful that I chose obedience to the Lord over having the knowledge and safety in information. These past 9 months are indescribable and I literally can’t thank God enough for the blessing of the Race. 

 

And so here we are again. Saying YES in the unknown. Standing in awe and wonder. Reminding myself of the testimonies of His faithfulness. A hungry desire to know more of Him. 

 

3 more months of the mission field it is !

 

And I couldn’t be more ecstatic !! 

A shout to my Team Leader — Ellie Miller

 

Ellie !!

Wow. Full circle. 

 I remember meeting you and it confirming this desire of my heart back in December. I knew I wanted your job. I am genuinely convinced that you are the sweetest team leader out there and man o man did Abba know that I needed a friend like you!! He really did that !!

 

I’m consistently thankful for the way that you pursued Christ and invited us in. You modeled what it looks like to have deep intimacy with Him and ALIGN your heart with His. Thank you for your transparency because I learned so much through watching you process with the Lord. Thank you for your vulnerability in your story that God used to unlock more and more freedom in my own life. Thank you for showing me what it looks like to know that Father’s love so deep that that’s the kind of love you were able to pour out to others. I appreciate the way you pursued me and empowered me. 

 

Thank you for loving and seeing something in me that you chose to challenge me. Thank you for always pointing me back to the Father. 

 

I wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t a vital and influential part of Layna growing closer to the Father. 

 

Miss you mucho and I’ll see you in Texas soon !! Love you lots el milla. 

To my future team of girlies —

I can’t wait to squeeze your faces in September !! Eeeeekk !!

 I pray that we are a team devoted to unity and passionate love for each other. I pray that each of us are able to grasp the love of the Father and pour out to each other. I pray that each of you are set on fire for the Lord. I pray against any desire to sit stagnant or in complacency. I desire for you all to be a group of women that loves hard!! That your love for each other is dangerous to the enemy and is destructive towards anything that isn’t of our God. I pray that we are a team that challenges and cheers each other on. I’m a huge fan of you already !! I can’t wait to weep and rejoice with you !!

 

I can’t wait to be apart of your lives. 

I’m praying for you guys already !!

I love you guys mucho 😉

also I’m fundraising again !! I need $3,000 to continue with this mission the Lord has placed on my heart. I appreciate each of your supporting me in prayer !! I would also love it if you’d consider financially supporting me if you feel led !! God is doing big thing in the world and I’d love it if you’d help me be apart of it !!

 

you can donate by clicking the orange donate button above or venmo/PayPal @laynatolton !! 

 

gracias a dios !! Thank you so much !! 

<3 LJ