So how did I hear of this crazy race and why would I go? Well a few years back I heard about the WR on facebook (where else does anyone hear about anything?). So naturally I had to look it up. I loved everything that I found on the site. I found that it was basically a yearlong mission trip and I was excited about getting to be the hands and feet of God, having to rely on God alone, traveling, experiencing different peoples and cultures, ministry, etc. I even read about everyone living out of back packs, long hard travel days, the infamous squatty potties (3rd world after all) being used by God in new ways, being radically changed and challenged, and I wanted it all. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.
I wanted to go in July but after God telling me NO, I told him that I was going to go in September…well as you can imagine that didn’t go over well and obviously not happening. God had other plans – for me to leave in January. Of course God’s way is better, and now I’m starting to see why January and not before then.
Anywho, as it got closer to sign-ups, and getting very excited about it, God decided to talk to me some more about the WR. Here is a brief look at our conversation:
God: “Excited about the WR?”
Me: “Of course! I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile now!”
“But what if I don’t want you to go on the WR?”
“WHAT!?!? Yes you do!”
“What if I don’t want you to go on the WR?”
“It would be very very very very very depressing and I would probably cry…”
“But would you go?”
“There is no way that I could spend a year on the mission field and raise all the support without you”
“Good thing I want you to go then”
“YES!!!!”
In February I signed up for the WR. And so excited! Though I do know that it will be challenging, it will be hard, I may feel like giving up, I may be pushed and pulled in all directions, and I will be placing a target on my back as I follow God, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will be amazing. It will be amazing as I learn to trust God like never before, as I will be shaped and molded into the woman that He wants me to me, as I will discover more about myself and the people and cultures around me.
People keep telling me that it’s dangerous, that I should not go, and that I should stay here. But if not me then who? I know that this race is bigger than me. This race is about the people I will met, the people that have never heard about God, the people who have no hope, the people that don’t know what love is…it’s about them. But this is also about me and God, about becoming the person he created me to be, about discovering God in a deeper way, about trusting him rather than the things of this world, it’s about answering the call that God has placed on my heart. I can’t see it all, but this is just the first step. So I go.
