Almost anytime I'm asked about my future, or the fall, or general 'plans' (which is very often for a recent college grad), I rattle off a little (excited and vibrant!) spiel about the World Race and almost always include the phrase, "To make a long story short…" Well, here's the (more, but probably not completely) unabridged version of that tale, which I'm fully aware of being still in the making. (This is a really long post. You can read the emboldened portions and kind of get the gist of it. It'll be slightly disjoint, and therefore rather comical that way.)
In December of 2012, I spent two weeks in Israel. I wasn't expecting that trip to have as enormous of an impact on my life as it did. By being there, I have gained such perspective. I can't read the Bible the same. So many places mentioned in it, I've SEEN. Walked through. Worshiped in. I have much more understanding of the heart of God and His beautiful character. Two words God gave me while I was preparing for the trip to Israel were 'redemption' and 'restoration.' I didn't really know why those words, but I prayed that I would grasp the significance at the right time.
While trying to get a 'thesis statement' of all that I gleaned there right after I came back to the US from Israel, God gave me a simple yet awe-striking four word revelation: God longs for you. The Lord yearns for intimate nearness with YOU. Not just the crowd of 'you,' but YOU on the singular level. Although He already knows us, He ardently desires that we choose to know Him and make ourselves know to Him. Then, God brought the words 'redemption' and 'restoration' back into my spirit. He showed me that not only does He long for us, but he desires to redeem us; show us we are worthy, through Him, to know Him and to be known – and He longs to restore us unto fullness of life. When I grasped that, my life changed. God placed a desire in me when I was a little girl to make His love known to the masses. (The specific 'you' WITHIN the crowd 'you.') In Israel, He placed an urgency in me to do this in diverse places and NOW.
Fast forward to February. I was halfway through my last semester of pursing my associate's degrees and had no idea what the fall entailed. Transfer to a different college and get a bachelors degree? Stay home, get a decent job, and work? Some sort of ministry more full-time? All up in the air. I found the World Race website while searching for scholarships for an academic program I was applying to. When I saw the magnitude of what the Race involved, I put the notion of it safely (and FAR) in the back of my mind. This seemed the reasonable response for a girl who has spent exactly 3 nights of her life in a tent. (Two of those three nights may or may not have been safely in someone's backyard.) Surely, God wouldn't call me to do something that would stretch me so much… I grappled with major, "What am I DOING? What am I TO be doing?! What are YOU, doing, Lord?? And where are You doing it?!" thoughts and questions that entire month.
On February 26, 2013 (a Tuesday), I read the account in Matthew 12 where Jesus healed the lame hand of man on the Sabbath. I'd read that story and had even been taught on it in Sunday School, I'm sure, but I saw it, that day, with a new light. What struck me was this: (verse 13) "He (Jesus) said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored." (See above… 'Restored' was a major buzzword for me.) The Holy Spirit revealed so clearly to me that, sometimes, God calls us to stretch ourselves and be stretched in order to be restored. Who knows, if the man refused to stretch himself out, making his vulnerabilities (the lame hand) more visible, he might not have been restored. Then I prayed, "Lord, stretch me unto complete restoration."
Later that night, my mom called me. (I live in an apartment about 40 minutes from home during the week, and go home to her and my dad and sisters on the weekends.) Very excitedly, she related to me how she was watching a Christian TV program and there was a snippet on it about a young women doing "…a missions trip called the World Race! Erika, you go to 11 countries over the span of 11 months! All ministry and full of walking in the love and power of God!"
"Mom…You wouldn't believe it, but I was just on that website a couple of weeks ago…Yeah, I've heard of it!"
We both got on our laptops, while still on the phone with each other, and looked at routes. She had already looked at the WR website and had written down a route that seemed like it was for me. Without her telling me this, I said, "The only route that really is sticking out to me is one leaving in September called 'Route 1.' "
"Erika! That's the one I have written down!"
I'm sure that I didn't respond as excitedly as she anticipated, but it was because I knew, then and there, what I was doing in the fall. Without even thinking, I used the phrase, "That'll be so stretching, though…" in our conversation, not fully realizing that God was just very quickly answering my 'stretch me' prayer. I then recalled, with irony, that my first thought, verbatim, was that the Race would be way too stretching.
I'm not a full-fledged procrastinator per se, but I'm more nonchalant in my pace than not. When I went home that weekend (a mere 3 days after the phone conversation with my mom and the 'stretch me' prayer) and let my parents know that I'd almost completed the online application for the Race, they, knowing my chill timeline tendencies, then knew that I'd be going. Whenever I act in urgency, it's typically from the Lord, not me.
I obviously completed my application, was interviewed, accepted, and am going on the World Race, September 2013 Route 1. (!!!) I am in awe to be a part of sharing the heart of God, His love, His longing for each and every person, with all whom I encounter all around the world in this coming year. Ministering His redemption and restoration with every step will concurrently be glorious and challenging, seeing that I, myself, am in this while being stretched unto restoration.
And this long story will get even longer… (:
From my heart,
Erika Venese
