I signed up for this…
I signed up to spend 11 months sleeping in airports, on tile floors, in tiny crowded rooms and anywhere in between.
I signed up to walk across borders with everything I own strapped to my back.
I signed up to have locals yelling to me and at me in a language I don’t understand.
I signed up to do anything and everything that makes me uncomfortable for 11 months straight.
I signed up raise funds completely on faith so that I can abandon everything I know and live my life completely reliant on God.
But… Why? Why would anyone ever sign up for something like that? Why would I sign up for something like that while most other recent college graduates are getting jobs and making money to pay off their student loans? Where is the logic? I must be a glutton for punishment with a wanderlust to boot, right?
The answer to that question is beyond my limited English vocabulary but, because I want so desperately for you, my supporters to understand, I decided to give it a try. It has nothing to do with me, I am no different than all of the other graduates who sat in the rows next to me at the ceremony back in May. It has nothing to do with who I am or what I have done. It has everything to do with why I do it and the God that gave me my passion.
I will sleep anywhere, eat anything and endure everything I will experience for 11 months because…
I believe that a 12-year-old boy with bipolar disorder manically shouting obscenities at his teacher can change the world.
I believe that a young girl, rescued from the sex trade, with PTSD and debilitating anxiety can impact millions of people for the Lord.
I believe that a 5-year-old who suffers from schizophrenia and endures laughter every day as he desperately tries to explain the voices he hears in his head, can save lives.
I believe that a girl with severe autism can speak to people’s hearts the way no one else can.
I believe that little boy, abandoned by his parents and suffering from clinical depression can bring hope to billions.
I believe and I have seen that there is no cause too lost for Jesus and I would follow Him anywhere.
I believe that anyone can change the world but I believe that so many of them have been forgotten because others don’t understand them. There are so many forgotten, hidden souls and God has given me an insatiable desire to find them and bring them out into the light.
All around the world, mental illness has a stigma. In every nation I have ever encountered, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar are all dirty words even though countless people are ball and chained to them. Sometimes the people who perpetuate the stigma the most are the ones who suffer in silence. Never would they ever dare to speak out, so instead they try to help themselves and, clearly, that all ends in disaster. So why do we let it keep happening? One word: Fear. We are afraid of what is not tangible and anything that has more than one answer. Bipolar disorder is not tangible, psychotic episodes cannot be explained in only one way. Despite all this I believe that Jesus, education and expression are the answer in any and all cases.
I cannot even begin to describe to you why I fight to travel in the most inglorious manner possible. It’s not because I’m anything special because we all have something we fight for. It’s simply because God has given me such an insane thirst to find people who have been labeled and forgotten and I can’t stop at just finding a few. I have to keep finding more and more. I have to keep put faces with names and names with faces. I have to keep sharing their stories.
I believe that anyone can change the world as we know it if only they were given the chance to know Jesus, express themselves and gain knowledge. All they need is dignity and dignity is what happens when those three things collide. I have become dignified in Christ so that I can dignify those who have been forgotten.
God has given me a vision to start a program called Dignity Schools that will provide emotionally disturbed students with a way to express themselves so that they can eventually receive an education catered to their unique needs and, ultimately, find the freedom that passes all understanding in the Savior.
The World Race is the next step God has lead me to take a I strive to fulfill this vision. I cannot fully explain why. All I know is that I will surely be able to piece it together through telling the stories of the hidden souls I encounter as I travel where He leads.
I have reached my $10,000 goal but my $13,000 and full funding deadlines are fast approaching. I am not asking you to believe in me, I’m asking you to believe in the vision God has given me. If just 30 people believe in this vision enough to donate $100 my next goal will be covered and if 40 more do the same I will be fully funded. God’s vision for my life will be one step closer to reality.
Thank you so much for believing in this vision and for prayerfully considering what you can do to help. I am so grateful for those of you who have believed and supported this vision so far. God has provided this far and I have faith that He won’t let me down now.
