How I Was Called To The Mission Field, or….YES!

I felt the calling to surrender my life to ministry 9 years ago. I was interning at a church back home, ministering to the youth group, and the Lord just started pressing on my heart. He pressed so hard I knew there could be nothing else for me but a life in full-time ministry.

I surrendered.

Then I proceeded to RUN in the opposite direction.

I thought to myself, I can go into ministry anytime I want. Right now, though, I want to do other things with my life!  I finished up my undergrad degree in Theatre and ASL. I took a promotion at my job at Starbucks so I could save enough money to move to Washington DC and teach at a karate school in Northern Virginia, while pursuing the stage.

That fell through.

I started dating a boy and got engaged.

We broke up.

I went back to school to apply to a really prestigious ASL Interpreting program.

I was rejected based on personality conflicts.

I stayed in school for another semester to work on my Master's in Secondary English Teaching. I then applied for Teach For America, and they passed me over all the initial interviewing to the Final Interview.

I was miserable pretending I would be happy teaching in a public high school. They didn't accept me anyway.

And so on and so forth it went…for NINE YEARS.

It was really rough.  When I finally decided I had had enough "no's," when I had received enough hurt and pain for a lifetime…I turned around and started running back TO the Lord. And all of a sudden, doors started FLYING open!

I had been interpreting for various churches for the last several years, but I was asked to move to a new church to join a team of interpreters that involved my very best friend.

I started volunteering with the youth group at my new church as a Youth Coach.

I started leading a college women's small group and meeting individually with my students weekly.

I joined the Outreach Ministry Team and got involved loving on my community.

I started teaching a conversational ASL class for members of my church and the community.

I found myself! And it was exactly where God had told me I would. I was throwing myself headfirst into ministry, and my life was suddenly starting to make sense. I was happier than I ever remembered being. I was busy, and overwhelmed, and no time was just my own- and I loved it.

God was slowly and surely healing those pieces of my heart that had been broken, tortured, and lost over all those years of pretending to be Jonah.

One day, while I was leading Small Group, I was talking about all the possibilities that the Lord has for us. For myself, I thought about going into full-time Girls' Ministry, but that I also was interested in going overseas for awhile. I wasn't sure if I was called into international missions, but I did have a great desire to go- go to the world, go to the nations, go wherever God would allow me to go.

One of the girls in the group had a friend who had gone on World Race, and she shared the website with me, telling me about "11 in 11" and the different ministries that took place in the different areas. It sounded pretty interesting, so I looked it up, and honestly was really intrigued.

But when you think "international missions" you mostly think of going to one place and investing there for a specific amount of time- 3 months, 6 months, a year.  This was a trip involving traveling to 11 countries in as many months! That's weird!

I kept it in the back of my mind while I pursued other opportunities. I interviewed with several other organizations, all focused on sending me to one place for one year. The interviews all went smoothly and really well, I thought. But I didn't have any sort of peace about it.

So I applied for World Race.

My interview came and went, and then the waiting started. From the beginning of this application process I felt differently than I had before. Waiting was torture, my heart was always pounding, I constantly checked my phone…AND my email…

I was at work at Red Lobster almost a week after my interview, telling one of my guests about this amazing opportunity that I had applied for. The table right behind that guest was a couple from my church, and they asked me to come and tell them about it, too! I was telling them about my nine years of "No" and how I really believed that the Lord was about to open a major door in my life, and that it would lead to a major change. I had been waiting in Richmond- in my college town- since I moved here FOR college, and I really, truly believed God was preparing to change my life in a big way. And if God said "yes" to World Race, it would be a beautiful day and I would race into this change under the Lord's perfect guidance and timing. And if God said "no" to World Race, it would be a beautiful day and I would be one step closer to finding out where and what God had for me.

The lady said,"Wouldn't it just be wild if they called you while we were still here?!"

AND MY PHONE RANG.

I ran to the empty part of the restaurant and called World Race back (I had missed their call), and they answered with the Lord's resounding, big, fat, awesome YES!!

And with that, I know where I'm going- at least for the next year of my life.

I'm incredibly excited for this new chapter, and my prayer now- instead of being Where, Lord– is How, Lord? My prayer is that He will open the floodgates of heaven's financial blessing so that I can fulfill His Will for my life. I know He will provide. I am convinced of His Perfect Timing, Unconditional Love, and Overwhelming Faithfulness, and I know He will provide. My prayer is that He will do so through you.

However He decides to walk me through this door into a new chapter and season of my life, I will make every effort to RUN in the direction He is sending me, knowing I will get there in His Perfect Timing.