This is Victoria. 

She walks in wisdom and confidence in who she is and who the Father has made her to be. Every time she speaks, she teaches me something new. She is just one of those people you want to be around. She has the best laugh. She is joyful and pursues others around her the way the Father pursues her. She has shown me so much love since being on the Race. I am so grateful I get to call her a friend, but also a sister. 

I asked her if we could sit down and just talk about her own relationship with the Father so I could share more about her with you all. I wanted to know more about how she so confidently walks in who she is since I'm very much learning who the Father actually made me to be and not who the world says I am. 

She actually began by telling me that she has been through very long seasons of being confused about her identity and being unsure and doubtful that the Father cared about her. Which makes it so much cooler that she now walks in the freedom of who she is. 

Then this little boy who hangs out with his dad around the guesthouse (waiting to take people downtown in his tuktuk) came up to us. He gave us candy and wanted wanted to sit with us. Eventually he started playing with Victoria. She gave him a paper boat that one of her students in Battambang had made her. He tried to make it float in the pool. He asked her to keep making them for her as he silently held up five fingers. She didn't know how to make them, but willingly and patiently figured it out so that she could make more boats for him. It was such a cool thing to watch. I so often get caught up in the task at hand and what I'm supposed to be doing that I forget to engage with the people who are literally asking for me to play with or have a conversation with. She made boats for him and then sat on the steps of the pool as he dropped the boats into the green pool water (from the rain). I got to see her heart and the way she chooses to love on the people around her. It was such a sweet reminder that it is okay for us to step away from what we are always "supposed" to do so that we can engage and build connection with the people around us. 

As I was sitting here writing this blog, I decided to look up what the meaning of Victoria's name is. Victoria means "victory" in Latin. I love that because Victoria knows what it means to walk in victory. She knows that the battle has already been won. Christ came and walked on the Earth and died a painful death. And through this, death was conquered.  She fights not for victory, but from victory - as we all should. (John 19:30) 

Victoria, thanks for being such a cool squadmate! You are a sweet daughter of the Father and you walk that out with such beauty and grace. I am encouraged to seek my identity in Him alone and to choose to always take a moment to love His people that we are surrounded by. & I will do it from a place of victory! 

-Elena