In 2005, I went to a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). During that time, God turned my life upside down and I knew without a doubt that I was made by God, to live a life completely, wholeheartedly surrendered to Him.
“Come, follow Me.” –Jesus
This is all I knew for sure that the Spirit of God was speaking to my heart.
Upon completing my 5 month DTS, the natural series of events was to return home. I kept praying and asking God what was next. How could I follow Him? Where did He want me to go? What did He want me to do? I had no clear direction; all I had was a strong longing that there must be more to life than my current routines. So, I continued working at doing what I knew how to do until I had clarity on what the Lord truly meant by those words.
Years start to pass and I find myself stuck in the routines of working, sleeping, eating, going to church and paying the bills and ever so slightly becoming more and more distant to the life God has called me to. All the while, the Holy Spirit of God would continue to speak to me in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, through scripture, song and conversations I would find myself engaging in. He would periodically speak things like:
“Sell all your possessions and… come, follow me.” –Jesus
(Matthew 19:21)
“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” –Jesus
(Luke 9:58)
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” –Jesus
(Mark 8:34)
All this is good and well, but what do I do with this? I still had no idea how to respond to what the Holy Spirit was speaking until I came across a book called Kingdom Journeys. Six years and seven months after the first clear call to “Come, follow me”, the answer comes down on me like a ton of bricks. As I read through the words on the pages of this book, I felt the Lord drawing me into this adventure and asking me a question: “Am I really willing to give it ALL to Him?” I felt the Lord asking me if I am really willing to walk away from everything I know, all the comforts of my own home and culture to follow Him on a journey. Am I willing to let God show me the world through His eyes and let Him teach me how to be the hands and feet of Jesus? My heart cried “Yes! Yes! YES!”, but the tears fell like rain giving way to the fear of what this journey was going to mean and how it would cost me everything.
It wasn’t until I was well into the book that I discovered this journey took on the form of The World Race so upon completing the book, I went through the application process for the July 2013 Race –Route 3.
The rest is history, yet just the beginning. I was accepted and that is how I arrived to the here and now. I feel as though my life is spinning out of control, and it is. I am losing the control of my life in order to allow God to take control. I do not know how all the pieces will fit together, but I know the Lord is in control so now I am answering the call to “Come, follow Me.”
I am so thankful and humbled at the Lord’s patience and persistence to never shut up and I live with the hope that He never will. Therefore, I will keep listening and keep following to the best of my abilities so that I may never settle back into a life that slowly and ever so subtly pulls me away from the life God has called me to live being the hands and feet of Jesus in whatever way He chooses.
