I am not one who is good at writing introductions for myself. I struggle to navigate the lines between information overload and sever lack of sharing, what is pertinent information and what isn’t. So, to be completely truthful, this “About Me” post will probably have a little bit of it all. My goal is to share some random facts about myself, be authentic, and to share my heart for ministry, particularly feeling called to World Race.
So to start, here are some “fun” facts about me:
- A good pun will make my day
- Sarcasm, movie quotes, and song lyrics make up about 70% of my vocabulary
- I played soccer for 14 years
- I love all animals, particularly horses and dogs.
- I drink excessive amounts of coffee
- You don’t like the Los Angeles Dodgers, I don’t like you. (kidding… kinda)
- I was an RA for two years in college
- I have two precious nieces and an awesome nephew
- I’m a horrendous speller
Now, I would like to share a little bit more about how I came to the World Race.
If you had asked me two months ago what I would be doing in January 2016, I would have excitedly told you I was starting Grad School to get my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. I had a five year plan, and I was excited to see it come to fruition. The thing about plans, however, is that they often change. Over the last two months God has radically worked in my life and in my heart, and boy, have my plans changed.
From the time that I was young, I have felt called to missions. I felt stirrings of this call for the first time when I was eight, again when I was fifteen, and once again when I was nineteen attending the Urbana Missions conference in St. Louis. In an effort to prepare for and explore this call, I changed my major to Theology and minored in Reconciliation studies, as well as serving on short-term missions trips to China, Bangladesh, and Cambodia. These trips were wonderful learning and serving opportunities in which God moved powerfully and affirmed my call to missions.
As I began to prepare myself for grad school, I lost peace in my heart about pursuing my degree at this time. First, I decided I needed to wait on grad school. Second, I realized I need to reconsider how the idea of missions fits into my life. Long story short, I applied to go on World Race. So, rather than starting school in January, I will be embarking on an incredible journey and adventure of faith. I am so excited about this process, and to see the ways in which God works in and through my life!
Over the last several years, I have been studying scripture closely (an inherent part of being a Christian Scriptures major). One consistent theme is God’s faithfulness, particularly when people he calls take the steps of faith asked of them. I read a blog recently by JJ Peterson about steps of faith (click here to read this blog in it’s entirety). In his blog he notes that we often don’t actually take a step of faith until we are sure that our foot will land on solid ground. But this is not what we are called to. Rather steps of faith should look something like a babies first steps- which are unstable and often end with the kid falling flat on their face, or square on their bum. However the entire time the tot is taking it’s wobbly first steps, the parents watch with great joy. Peterson proposes that when we take steps of faith, God watches rapt with joy as we navigate the sometimes scary unknown- simply because we are being faithful.
Two months ago, I found myself at a crossroads, with two steps in front of me. One (grad school) would land me on what I knew to be solid ground. The other (World Race) had no visible landing, it was just a giant leap of faith into the unknown. Would I even get accepted into the WR program? How would I raise that much money? Could I go eleven months without seeing my family and my friends. So far, God has caught me on this leap. Yes, I did get accepted! God has always been faithful with funds in the past, and I am trusting that he will be again. And yes, It will likely be difficult to be away from loved ones for that length of time, but I have been realizing lately that God is going to provide me with an additional family (my squad) who will love, encourage, and support me. This trip is a huge step of faith for me. I have no doubt that if I pursued my Masters at this time, God would have used that decision and worked in and through me. However, I like to think that as I prepare, God is standing next to me, clapping and cheering as I sloppily do my best to be faithful to his calling on my life.
That’s it for now. I hope that this helped you to know me a bit better.
Shalom
