Romans 12
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2
This past summer I focused a lot on the study of Romans 12 and what that really meant in my walk with God. I was convicted to surrender and give everything to God. I wanted God to make me aware of things I didn’t even know I was holding onto and be transformed by the renewing of my mind. I prayed that I would surrender my future and let His will alone be done in my life, more specifically what I was going to do after graduation in May. I had no idea that this request and faith would lead me to the World Race months later. I asked God to make me brave and to say “yes” to whatever He called me to do.
God began transforming my mind and I began to desire God's will above all else like never before in my life. I didn’t desire a safe and comfortable life style and something that would fulfill my desires; I just craved whatever God had for me. God was slowly transforming my mind to follow his good, pleasing, and perfect will. I was so desperate to do God's will that I would sometimes worry I would miss it or go down the path of my own desires. I worried about how I would know for sure what God's plan was. God was already answering my prayers and I knew He wouldn’t disappoint me. I had faith that God would lead me down the narrow path for my future.
{Be careful what you pray for! God will answer your requests in bigger and better ways far beyond what you can image. It takes patience and perseverance, but God will answer you at His perfect time. Don’t get discouraged.}
“Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3
Go out into the world
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
As the summer progressed, God kept answering my prayers in ways I never would have expected. I felt the nudge to do oversea missions. I knew God had called me to do something different from what my expectations had always been for my future. I had no idea where this would lead me in the near or distant future, but I kept praying about it to place it in God's control. I was excited to see where God would lead me and how He would fulfill this passion on my heart.
I look back on past decisions and it is so obvious that God's hand was all over them. He had a plan for me all along that was so much bigger then myself. Small decisions are what impact your future. But it was just as easy to say no to God and live a lukewarm, self-ambitious life. It is scary how easy it is to get comfortable in your faith. One foot in the world and one foot with God is an exhausting way to live and not at all how God designed His followers to be. All it will leave you is unfulfilled and empty. That is a counterfeit form of Christianity that Satan tries to make us believe that is okay and good enough to get by, don’t settle for less than God's best! You cannot serve two masters. Either you love the world and hate God, or love God and hate the world.
When you experience both, you know the difference and nothing compares to being on fire for God and having a loving, intimate relationship with Him the way He designed it to be. I could have easily chosen the safer and more comfortable route, but I am so glad God didn’t let me! God’s way and plan is so much better! God does give us free will and living a life fully dedicated to God requires daily surrender, nothing about it is easy or makes sense.
God tested me and strengthened my faith in small acts of trust and obedience to prepare me for His future plan. Decisions to surrender everything to God do not happen over night. God was working on me and preparing me for things I could have never imagined. God was building a foundation for this adventure.
“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jeremiah 29:13
The World Race
I have known about the World Race for a while and always thought it was awesome, but not for me. In the back of my mind, I always wondered what was holding me back from doing something like this, but I ignored it. When I returned back to college for the start of school, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. God hit me with a wave and undeniable tug of the Holy Spirit to pursue the World Race after graduation. I prayed that God would strengthen this desire or take it away if it wasn’t His will. I couldn’t ignore it, it was all I could think of and pray about. Once again, God answered my prayers and I was terrified because I knew from the beginning that this was God’s will. Once I started to seriously pray and think about it, it was so obvious, this was the answer to my prayers. My fears and worries of not knowing God's plan disappeared, when God calls you to do something, you will know it.
The World Race became real so fast. Every time I would ask someone to pray for wisdom and for God's will to be done it was one step closer to the race. God began to break me and it forced me to fully surrender everything to God in ways I never had to before. It made me run and cling to His guidance and trust that His plan is better then my own. Fear and worry would creep into my mind. I knew I had to take this leap of faith and apply to the World Race. The thought of living with regret and missing God's plan was so much bigger then my worry and doubt. I was sweetly broken by God to pursue this and learned so much on the journey of just applying for the World Race.
I took the decision very seriously to apply and considered all aspects of doing the World Race. This journey is going to be just as difficult as it is wonderful. Even when I began the application I was doing it out of obedience and love for God. The day I decided to apply, I felt an undeniable peace about the World Race. My feelings of excitement and worry wavered many times through the past week and that day I felt an underlying peace that God was in control. Being a follower of Christ is not a feeling. Being a missionary is not a feeling. Being a missionary is based off obedience and love for God. I was not always going to feel like being a missionary. It’s going to be real, tough, and trying. There will be many times when I am homesick, tired, exhausted, scared, and God will break me and transform me in so many ways that require pain to experience healing and renewal. I will have to trust God with everything. The chance to spread the gospel and show God's love to eleven countries, experience God like never before, and fall more in love with Him was too great of an opportunity to pass up. I was still terrified and out of my comfort zone when I began the application but I knew I was following God's plan.
Psalm 37:4
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
After I completed the online application, my fears and worries disappeared. I wanted more then anything to do the World Race. I prayed that God would answer the desire of my heart, which He had placed there since the beginning. God has a sense of humor. He led me down this path while I was kicking and screaming, filled with doubt and worry. Now I was begging God for this to be His will and to send me! It was a long journey of learning how to fully delight myself in the Lord and crave God's desire above my own. I would like to say I was like this from the very beginning, and had no worries or fears about the World Race. But this story is so much better because God gets all of the glory.
After my phone interview, I felt peace about God's plan and would recite Psalm 37:4 over and over again to remind me of His promise. I was confident that God would grant me the desire of my heart. I was in the library studying when I got the call. I was thinking and praying about the World Race when I looked at my phone and had a missed call from them. I knew that if I got accepted I would say yes and I prayed for God's will to be done. I was so overjoyed and humbled when I received the acceptance call. God is faithful.
{Pray the scary prayers and actually mean them with your whole heart! Do not live your Christian walk making safe requests to God, being scared and vulnerable forces you to trust God. Ask God to take you out of your comfort zone and set spiritual goals for yourself and see how God will develop them. God didn’t design Christianity to be safe and lukewarm. Fall crazy in love with God and I promise He has greater plans for you then you could ever imagine! He will never disappoint you!}
The love and support I have already received from my family and friends has been so overwhelming and far beyond what I could imagine. I would not have been able to apply without their support and encouragement. I am so richly blessed to have amazing Christian friends and family; I don’t know what I would do without them.
He must become greater, I must become less
I am so excited to be part of the World Race and to be the hands and feet of Jesus! I cannot wait to see what God has planned for this adventure and all the ways I am going to fall more in love with Him. I can’t wait to serve with a community of like-minded believers who are hungry to spread the gospel.
I desire to spread God's love and serve others because of Christ alive in me; it is no power of my own. I love this adventure because it has required me from day one to completely rely and trust in God. I know this is just the beginning of learning how to fully surrender everything to God, and I couldn’t be more excited. I am thankful for the times in my life where I am uncomfortable and not in control because it forces me to give God all of the control of my life. A life that is comfortable and easy makes it much harder for me to rely on God everyday.
The best part is all I have to do is to be willing and rely on God and He will use me, with no power or strength of my own. The areas I know I am weak or scared, God can shine through me the most! When I am afraid, I am forced to give God control and He can do far more then I could ever do – what an awesome promise! It is a great honor, privilege, and humbling experience to be part of the World Race!
“God is able to do far beyond all that we ask or imagine by His power at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-11
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog! I cannot do this without your love and support; I look forward to going through this journey with you!
