THE. WORLD. RACE. I remember stumbling upon the website almost a year ago now. My heart fluttered as I looked through all of the different routes. Days, weeks, months went by and I kept coming back to look over and over again.
My heart for missions began quite some time ago. It started with my first trip abroad in high school. That trip might have been all about sightseeing and enjoying the food and clothes, but it began my love for the world. Upon returning, all I wanted to do was turn around and go back. Throughout the years, I was looking for any opportunity to go back overseas wherever it might lead. I was able to study abroad during my junior year of college. This time was a little different. My heart had changed since I was in high school. I now knew the redeeming love of Christ. Going back over, I was intrigued by the different cultures and found myself comparing how life was over there compared to home. Especially regarding faith. I started to realize how much of a missed mission field Europe can be.
Then came my senior year of college. All throughout my four years, I was involved with Cru, a Christian campus organization. This community did so much for me in my time away from home. I learned about the love Jesus has for me and the redeeming grace He so freely extends. I had also heard repeatedly about an opportunity to go to East Asia to love and share the gospel with the lost. I had always said I would never go. However, my heart slowly began to change. An opportunity to go over and gain vision for why we need to go on mission to this place came up for spring break. I decided to go for my spring break and learn more about the people of this country. This is the trip that made it clear to me that I was to go and be on mission with the Lord overseas. Going to East Asia opened my heart and revealed to me that there are people who do not have a way to hear the name of Jesus. They aren’t given the freedom to choose to believe what they want. My heart broke for the women as I learned about the pressure to date or be married by a certain time. They have these thoughts that if they are not, they are unworthy or ugly. There are many lies they believe about themselves and the world but they’re not the only ones. There are many others who do not know the name of Jesus in other parts of the world. My hope is that hearing the gospel will open their eyes to the truth. This trip did give me hope. There are those who want to go out and share the name of Jesus so these people can have hope, me being one of them. So that these people can believe in themselves and know they are worthy of love. So they can know that there is a God who loves them and wants to do great things through them.
So there it is, my heart for missions and my heart for the World Race.
I am trusting the Lord will provide the funds so I can go and share the redeeming love of Christ. Thank you for stepping into this with me and hearing about the WHY.
