Many people have asked me why I am going on the World Race, or how I even heard about this grand adventure.
So, here is my backstory to explain my why and how.
When I was a senior in High School, I found myself at a turning point in my life, the same way most 18 year olds do with graduation quickly approaching. I was fortunate to have found a college what was a perfect fit for me, Stephen F. Austin State University where I could pursue my dream of becoming a nurse. My mom is a nurse as well as a professor at my local community college and I was blessed with the opportunity to take reduced cost classes there throughout High School. I knew I could either continue to take classes there or move to Nacogdoches to attend SFA. I had a lot of guilt placed on my heart with passing up the opportunity to recieve my education at a reduced price, but I felt I needed to go off to SFA for my continued growth.
Through this process I laid out my worries to God and I prayed for him to show me which direction to take my life. I made a promise throughout this time that if he steered me in the right direction, I would give a year of my life to his name and to his service after my college graduation.
I was on the SFA website when I found out about an academic scholarship that I didn’t quite qualify for. I needed to be in a certain percentage of my graduation class as well as make a certain SAT score. I retook my SAT’s three times, the third time the final chance for me to receive my scores back in time to qualify. I ended up making the dead minimum score on my SAT that third time, and I received that score on my last day of High School. I also graduated the very last person in that certain percentage of my class. cool right?
I felt that my path could have not been made any more clear, and I am so thankful my path was so perfectly directed for me. SFA was home for 2 1/2 years, and I am forever grateful for the friendships I made while living deep in the piney woods of east Texas. As well as for the experience I gained which helped shape me into the young woman I am today.
It was the summer after my graduation that I went on my first international mission trip to Belmopan, Belize to do construction on a High School. While on a bumpy bus ride eating our lunch on the way to the work site, my friend Laurel told me all about this 11-month mission trip called the World Race. I was immediately intrigued by the concept of it. When I arrived home after my time in Belize I began to research the Race and watch videos of current racers and alumni. I read their blogs, looked at their incredible pictures, and read their stories about what they saw God doing on the other side of the globe. I felt my heart begin to race imagining myself one day being on the race. Since that week, the World Race has been on my heart and mind each and every day.
Now 3 1/2 years later, I am one semester away from my college graduation, and becoming a Registered Nurse. I am honored with the opportunity to be a World Racer and I am thrilled knowing that I am counting down to set out to do what I promised four years ago.
To lift up his name.
To serve.
To love.
