Posted in General Posts by Allison Springer on 11/13/2011
I never really considered myself an artist. Artistic, yes, but not necessarily an
artist. To me an artist created
art all the time, that was their job.
I had other interests besides art and I had a "real" job out in the
"real" world and therefore could not be considered an artist. Being on the Race has changed all of
that. God has revealed to me that
I am an artist, deep within my soul and that I was born to create.
When I moved to New York, I didn't have the time or the
space to really paint. So I didn't
do it, and I felt incomplete (although I didn't realize what the reason was at
the time). I have now learned that
I personally need to do something creative regularly in order to feel
whole. When I feel slightly off,
like I'm not fully myself, painting centers me. When I am in a bad mood, being creative makes me feel
better. As I learn more about who
I am and who I was created to be, I am learning more and more that an artist is
a large part of that.
God has also taught me that my art is not just for me. My art is for other people. I never really thought about the impact
my art would have on other people, but God has been showing me how art can
minister to others and therefore be a ministry in itself. 
I have painted murals in 3 different
countries while on the Race; something I did not expect to be part of my
ministry on the Race. I never
painted murals before, and it was a much bigger endeavor that anything I had
ever painted before. For the first
time, I was relying on God while painting. I knew I couldn't do it all by myself. If I wanted these murals to turn out
well and have an impact on people, I needed to let God speak through them.
In one of his books, John Eldredge talks a lot about the
importance of beauty. Beauty
brings joy to people. In the
presence of beauty, people can relax and rest. Beauty restores the soul. If beauty was not important to God, then He would not have
created such a beautiful would to live in. You can see the importance of beauty in sunrises and sunsets,
in the mountains, in the flowers and the trees, in butterflies and birds.... If
God did not think beauty was important, if beauty was not something we needed,
then we would live in a plain utilitarian world.
During the Race, God has taught me the importance of beauty in
this world. I have seen a lot of
beautiful places around the world.
Through these places I have learned that beauty is not only necessary
for joy and restoration, but it should be used for worshiping and glorify
God. When I see beauty in the
world, I remember that God is also and artist, and that He created all of this
right down to the very last detail.
When I visit a butterfly park and marvel over the color and beauty and
variety of each butterfly, I worship God.
When I admire the difference and beauty in the birds in Asia or in
Australia, I worship God. 
God has taught me how important beauty is in the world. But He also taught me that He created me
as an artist in order to bring beauty to the world. Part of my calling is to make the world beautiful. I don't know exactly how that looks in
the future, but I do know that I am going to do my best to fulfill that calling
and glorify Him.
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Posted in General Posts by Allison Springer on 11/13/2011
And what I mean by that is I don't think YOUR ministry is for me. Sometimes I think we as Christians rank ministries and view some as more important than others. But God has been teaching that the most important ministry for me is the one He calls me to, and that is different from anyone else's ministry. We were all created differently with
different gifts and talents, and God wants use each of us differently to
accomplish different goals for his kingdom. Therefore, I should not compare the work that I am doing to
anyone else's work. If God calls
me to come back to America to minister to people there and calls my friend to
Cambodia, there is no difference in our callings in God's eyes. One is no more important or worthy than
the other. God doesn't want me to
give up all I own to move to the bush in Africa if that is not what He has
asked me to. What God cares about
is that I am obedient to Him, no matter what he asks. Therefore it is important to recognize each person calling
looks different. 
I saw a prime example of this while we were in
Cambodia. In Cambodia, we were
helping our contacts teach English.
However, our contact told us that we are all here to accomplish one
goal: to build relationships with the students. He was doing that through teaching English, but it could
look different for each of us. 
Natalie teaching a dance class He
really encouraged us to use the gifts God gave each of us to minister in
different ways. While we all
continued to help teach English, we also branched out in other ways to relate
to the kids using our gifts. Dave
played the guitar, Natalie taught a dance class, and I painted a mural. 
Then we moved to Australia where again our ministry looked
entirely different. We were
helping a Christian Outreach Center run a hostel so they could earn money to
send missionaries to other countries.
So this month our ministry was office work, kitchen duty, housekeeping,
and yard work. Totally different work
from the month before, but equally as important.  Then I got sick, and could not longer work and had to stay
in bed for half the month. I
didn't feel useful because I couldn't minister. When I expressed this to my team, they told me that I had
been ministering to them through the conversations we were having. Because I was in bed most of the time,
I had a lot of time to read and talk with God. When the girls came home each day, I would talk to them
about what I was reading and learning from God. Therefore they said I was ministering to them by teaching
them what I had learned. So yet
again, my ministry looked different from everyone else's but it was still
important and furthermore was the role I was supposed to play that month.
A lot of people have been asking what all of us Racers are
going to do when we get back to America.
And a lot us don't know yet.
Which is okay....it is better to wait for God to direct you than to
mindlessly pursue things. But some
of us do know what God is calling us to...and it looks different for each person. But all of it brings glory to God and advances His kingdom according HIS plan,
not ours.
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Posted in General Posts by Allison Springer on 9/11/2011
We are in Thailand this month with an organization called Remember Nhu who rescues girls that are in danger of being sold into human trafficking. Living here are around 80 girls, ranging from ages 6-18 who were at risk of being sold as sex slaves. Currently there are two houses for the girls to live in, however, there are plans to build six more. Each house has a set of house parents that take care of the girls, cook for them (delicious food that they have been cooking for us as well), make sure they get to school, help them with their homework and teach them about the bible.
Tonight we were having bible study with the girls, and as I looked around the circle I realized that each and every one of these girls had been hand picked and brought here by God. They have been saved from a life of potential horror, misery, and pain; and were brought here to be raised by loving, caring people who can tell them about God and the love He has for them. It reminded me of the verses in Psalm 40:1-2:
"I wait patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. "
God has lifted these girls out of the muck and mire and given them a firm place to stand. I'm not even sure if these girls realize the life they were headed for, but their home life was probably still pretty bad if there was potential of them being sold into prostitution (usually sold by their own parents). God heard their cries and he rescued them. The other night we were out to dinner in the city, and as we were coming home we passed a bunch of bars with prostitutes outside. It broke my heart to think that if it was not for organizations like Remember Nhu, the sweet girls I've gotten to know and love this month would be in the same situation. But instead of a life that would enslave them and leave them broken and wounded, they have the opportunity to become the caring, sweet, smart girls they were meant to be.
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Posted in General Posts by Allison Springer on 9/9/2011
Here in Swaziland God has been teaching me about answered prayers and what it means to be an answer to someone else's prayers. It is such a humbling and special moment when you realize you are the answer to someone's prayers, but it requires you to be obedient to God even when it seems like God is asking impossible things from you.
This month in Swaziland we are living and working at an orphanage. Most of these kids parents have already died from AIDS and this is the only home they have. This is a huge problem in Swaziland; there is a whole generation that no longer has parents to take care of them. It is estimated that by the year 2050 the entire population of Swaziland will be dead due to AIDS. So you can image how many orphans there are in Swaziland that need a good home like the orphanage we are staying out. We have been preparing one of the buildings here to be a new baby house so that the orphanage will have room for more infants. We've been clearing out the rooms, cleaning and painting to get the house move in ready. We done a lot of work, and it is almost finished.
Then one day the director comes up and ask us if we could paint a mural one of the walls to brighten up the house and make it more inviting and homey. I was not there for this discussion, but apparently my team told her, "Yes, Allison can paint a mural, she's an artist." They are making this assumption because they've seen my paint a 8" x 11" piece of paper, but now they've committed me to a 12 feet x 7 feet mural. Needless to say I was freaking out a little bit. Not only have I never painted anything that big, but they wanted me to draw Winnie the Pooh characters-not usually my style of drawing or painting. I wanted to say, "No, Allison cannot do this," but then I felt God say, "Don't worry, I got this. You can do it." So, with a huge leap of faith, I said yes to the mural. With the help of my team, I began to draw and paint. As I began, I had a confidence I don't always having when starting my art. It seemed almost like magic how fast the drawings took shape, and they actually looked like the Winnie the Pooh characters from the book. It was also a lot of fun and a great bonding experience with the other girls on my team (usually I get stressed out when I paint around other people). Painting this mural showed me what it means to use the talents God gave me for His purposes. It turned out much better than the things I try to accomplish on my own.
Then God showed me that by listening to him and being obedient, I became an answer to someone's prayers. When we finished the mural we showed it to the director. She was overwhelmed. She told us how excited she was and how much the kids would love it. Then she told me how badly they wanted a mural in this house and how she had been praying for God to bring them an artist. She told me, "You are an answer to my prayer. I knew you would come." Talk about humbling! And to think, I didn't want to do it in the beginning. I would have been missing out on so much if I had listen to fear instead of God.
(mural we painted)
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Posted in General Posts by Allison Springer on 7/13/2011
So...I'm a little behind in my blogs, so I am going to post one of my teammate's blogs to give you an idea of what we've been doing the last few months. Here is Rachael's blog about Swaziland:
Well, here I am. Contemplating on how I can tell you about what God is doing in the area I was located in Swaziland last month. First, I feel like I should update you on my team. At the beginning of the month our squad experienced team changes. I learned to love my old team, Relentless Grace, by the end of Moldova and it was hard to give them up to the Lord and not be in their lives everyday. God really changed my heart over debrief and made me realize that he had a new vision for our squad. So, I found out my new team and they are all amazing. Immediately, I could see God's hand in all of the team changes. My new team is amazing and have challenged me so much throughout the last month in new ways and are helping me walk out this new found freedom in Christ that I have found. It's been a beautiful journey together so far.
Last month we were at El Shaddai (http://www.elshaddaiswaziland.org/) located somewhere in the mountains of Swaziland; funny, I never found out the city I was in!
I wanted to sing Amy Grant's song all month long...
This is an amazing ministry that is totally faith based. Charmain and her husband, Kallie started this orphanage 12 years ago and it has grown tremendously. They take in orphans or children that aren't being properly taken care of by their families. Swaziland has the highest rate of aids in the world, it is predicted that it will no longer exist by the year 2050. So, as you can imagine there are a vast number of orphans in the country.
Here's a little about El Shaddai:
Vision: to show the love of Jesus in a practical way: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick. But most of all to bring the cross where they can receive forgiveness of sin and everlasting life through the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Goal: El Shaddai Ministry's goal is to help as many children as possible in the immediate surroundings who have lost their parents or have been abused or abandoned. Providing them with a loving Christian home and giving them the love and attention they deserve. Helping them to experience life through God's eyes by developing their character , spiritual lives and emotional well being is of great importance. ESM is committed to providing the children with a well rounded education , life skills training , healthy meals , quality medical attention as well as opportunities to develop and use their God given gifts.
Our month consisted of harvesting their maize field, helping clean up and organize their new baby house, which will be home to 20 new babies, tutoring the children after school, and loving on their babies and toddlers.
Man, I fell in love with those kids. My favorite times were spent holding on to a few of those toddlers who just stole my heart. Another blog to come on these kids and what God did in my own life last month. Get ready.
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Posted in General Posts by Allison Springer on 7/13/2011
My former teammate Lauren Rush made some awesome videos of each month of the race. Check them out to see my team and the ministry we did in India:
Untitled from Lauren Rush on Vimeo.
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Posted in General Posts by Allison Springer on 4/22/2011
The other day, my team and I were practicing prophesying to each other. We would each draw a number, then pray for that number and ask God to give us a word or vision for that person. The next night, we would each draw numbers again to see who we had been praying for and who our word or vision was intended for. My teammate Anne had drawn my number and she had a vision for me. She saw two people dressed in armor fighting each other with swords. As the battle continued, a giant sword came down and knocked both of the fighters out of the fight. (What is interesting is although Anne did not know for sure the vision was for me, she thought it might be for me because she knows how I love mythical or epic stories and therefore always enjoy a good sword fight. God definitely knows how to speak to my heart.)
This vision really spoke to me, because I fell like I have a battle going on internally between the old habits I've acquired over the years and the new person I'm trying to become. God is making changes in my life and turning me into the person I was created to be. However, I feel like there are parts of my old self that are not going down without a fight. This internal battle, along with external attacks from the enemy, have caused me to be a wreck inside and I was struggling to hold myself together. It was quite exhausting and I wasn't doing a very good job at it (just ask my team). But, as Anne explained to me, in the vision the giant sword is God and he has come to wipe out the battle. I don't have to fight anymore because He will do the fighting for me. Once I realized this, and gave up fighting (which goes against my natural instinct, usually I'm a fighter to the end) God was able to come in and take over the fight. Since I've given my battles over to God, I've felt a sense of peace within me. I feel more like myself instead of like a person who is falling apart. I feel light hearted and full of joy.
Since then, God has been teaching me that I don't need to worry about my internal struggles anymore. He will be here to fight my battles for me. And I don't have to worry about my future either. I don't have to worry about who I will become, what I will do or what will make me happy because He has a plan for all of that and that plan includes giving me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). Instead, I need to focus on rescuing other people so they can experience the peace and freedom I have in Christ. I need to be a light in the darkness, a healer of brokenness, and demonstrate not only God's love, but also God's power. God has taken care of me, so I can take care of others.
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