The 5 Hardest Lessons You’ll Learn on the World Race

The World Race isn’t your average gap year. It’s not just travel. It’s not just missions. It’s an 11-month, or 9-month, or semester journey that stretches your faith, shapes your identity, and teaches you how to follow Jesus with everything you’ve got.

It’s also hard.

If you’re looking for a curated, comfortable experience, the World Race isn’t it. But if you’re ready to grow, really grow, these are five of the hardest (and most transformative) lessons you’ll learn along the way.

1. Dying to Self Is a Daily Choice

On the Race, you live in tight community, sleep in unfamiliar places, and serve in situations that challenge your comfort zone. You quickly learn that following Jesus means laying down your preferences, pride, and plans every single day.

Whether it’s surrendering your schedule, giving up control, or choosing to love when it’s inconvenient, you’ll face the question: Am I willing to die to myself so others can see Christ in me?

2. Community Will Refine You

Living with a team for months at a time sounds exciting… until it doesn’t. Conflicts happen. Personalities clash. Your weaknesses are exposed.

But it’s in that refining that real growth happens. You’ll learn to communicate honestly, forgive quickly, and pursue unity even when it’s messy.

This isn’t surface-level community. It’s iron sharpening iron. And on the other side is a deeper understanding of grace, humility, and what it means to truly do life with others.

3. God’s Voice Is Clearer Than You Think

Many Racers begin their journey unsure how to hear from God. But through solitude, journaling, prayer walks, and team times, you’ll begin to recognize His voice.

And then He’ll ask you to trust it.

That might look like giving a word of encouragement to a stranger, sharing your testimony in a new language, or choosing a path that doesn’t make sense on paper.

The hardest part? Obedience. But the fruit of learning to hear and respond to God’s voice is worth everything.

4. Identity Must Be Rooted in Christ Alone

Without your usual labels – student, employee, athlete, influencer – you’re faced with a powerful question: Who am I when all the noise is gone?

On the World Race, you’ll have to face the lies you’ve believed and replace them with truth. You’ll wrestle with your identity, but in the process, you’ll discover who God says you are, and that will change everything.

5. Surrender Is the Key to Joy

You can’t control what country you’re in next, what ministry you’re assigned to, or what tomorrow holds. And that’s the point. The World Race teaches you to release your grip and trust the One who called you.

It’s hard. But it’s holy.

Because when you finally let go of your expectations and lean into surrender, you find joy you didn’t know was possible.

The World Race Will Wreck You… in the Best Way

These lessons don’t come easy. But they come with purpose. God uses the World Race to refine you, restore you, and reorient your heart toward His Kingdom.

You’ll leave different than you came. Stronger. Softer. And more like Jesus.

Ready to be transformed?
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