I have to say that I think my calling to the mission field started years before I ever realized it. In high school I felt like the Lord had called me to the ministry but I had no idea what that meant. I had others tell me they could see me doing vocational ministry but again…how? I liked sports and numbers and that doesn’t even make sense for a real job. It didn’t take long for me to realize once I was in college that the Lord was leading me to teach and coach. My heart was in sports and I felt that coaching was my going to be my ministry. I worked at a junior college as an assistant coach for a year and realized very quickly that God let me live out that dream but it wasn’t really the dream I had envisioned. After completely letting go of what I wanted I landed in Houston teaching middle school and coaching high school, something I said I would never do. Note to self, don’t ever tell yourself you won’t do something because I think God just grins and says, “Oh just wait.” Anyway, after just a month I felt completely satisfied. I had no idea you could love your job so much. I was very honest when I interviewed and told my boss that coaching was a ministry for me. As much as coaching is about winning and losing it’s also about teaching young girls about life and the Lord. For several years I have done this and loved every minute and every girl that has ever been on my team. However, after taking over a program just a few years ago my heart began to yearn for something different. Again I found myself wondering what I wanted to be when I grew up. I began to feel burned out with my job but at the same time I had no clue which direction the Lord was leading. A few years ago I went on a mission trip to Ireland and fell in love with the country. I was amazed at how much I loved being immersed in the culture and how deeply I cared for the people that I only had the pleasure of spending a week with. As I thought more about that trip my mind began to drift towards mission work. With more questions than answers floating through my head a friend of mine told me about the World Race. I had looked at it before and thought it was a great opportunity but it just wasn’t for me. I work at a private Christian school and we have had several people come in and speak about different ministries they are working with throughout the world. Each time a new speaker has come to our school I have felt my heart do back flips thinking about what it would be like to go beyond the boundaries of our country to love those that the world has labeled as “the least of these.” Several months ago I realized that the Lord was asking me to let go of my job. Being a practical person this was much harder than it seemed. However, once I let go of the tight grasp I had on my job the Lord opened my hands and laid the opportunity to be in the World Race in my grasp. I can’t begin to express the joy and humility I feel that the Lord has chosen me, one whom has stumbled and fallen often, to go and tell others of His great love. Although I know we won’t be in each country long I look forward to living with and amongst the people. I look forward to seeing just how universal the Lord is and how each person He has created, no matter where they call home, is as important as the next.
