When the World Race is brought up, I usually receive one of two responses: “Be careful… The world is a dangerous place,” (shoutout to my fam) or “Wow! That’s awesome; you’re doing great things. Good for you!” I would just like to clear some things up, though. This has been put on my heart and mind a lot lately, so I present to you my thoughts: I am not responsible for what is going on in my life. In fact, my life does not belong to me. I laid my life down and let God do the work, and this is just what He chose for me. Yes, I am going on a 9 month mission trip to 3 different countries and the opportunity is incredible, but I cannot and will not take credit for any of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand people are just shocked and say they’re proud/congratulate me out of excitement and with good intentions only. It is very exciting, and although I’m giving God all of the glory, I’m not trying to say that I’m not totally ecstatic for what’s in store. I’m not going to pretend like I don’t spend at least 2 hours at night before bed looking through World Racers’ Instagrams and online window-shopping for gear. But at the end of the day, this is just what God has blessed me enough to do (and I still can’t believe any of it), and I can never praise Him enough for all that He has blessed me with.
Matthew 16:24 says, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.'” That is my ammunition for this trip and I plan to let it fuel me throughout preparation and during the race. I will pick up my cross, deny myself and break from my selfish tendencies, and follow His plan for my life.
I pray constantly that God softens my heart and gives me the eyes to see people just as He sees them: beautifully crafted and worthy of love and forgiveness. I am not by any means even slightly agitated by the responses that I am getting from people; I am just trying to be responsible by letting everyone know that I am not responsible. Before my walk in faith began and I understood the importance of having a humble heart, I would’ve had the same response had someone told me of some extravagant mission that God has laid out for their lives.
In fact, before my relationship with Christ began, I never would’ve believed that God could use ordinary me to serve in such extraordinary ways. But that’s the thing: none of us are ordinary. We all serve an amazing purpose and are capable of doing amazing things through Christ. None of us are exempt from God’s love; He has a plan for every single one of us.
Nothing in the world could ever give God the praise He is so worthy of for all of the outstanding love and forgiveness He has so graciously given us. This blog post won’t do it, but it was put on my heart so I felt it necessary to clear the air. I just want God to have all the glory for the things He is doing in my life.
To every single person reading this: I absolutely love all of you so very much and I pray that you all know you are so worthy and capable and extraordinary 🙂 thank you for your continued support and prayers as the race approaches.
