Hey everyone! Welcome to my first blog post…I’m glad you are here!
Beginning January 2014, I will be traveling to 11 different countries in 11 months on a missions trip called the World Race. I will be telling you more about the actual trip in future posts, but for now I would like to tell you a little about how God has called me to this trip.
My first and only missions experience has been through several missions trips that I went on when I was a part of my church’s youth group. Though each of these trips was only a week or two in length, they are some of the most memorable experiences of my life. Memorable because of the new cultures I experienced, but also because each one challenged me spiritually. These experiences planted a “seed” for missions within me.
At the beginning of this year, I was completely content with my life. I’ve always had a picture in my head of how I would like my life to be and everything was pretty darn close to that picture in my head. Well, you guessed it, God had other plans:-) I experienced some disappointments which caused me to really evaluate my life and ask God what exactly He has in store for me. It was during this time that I realized how I have been kind of “floating” through life. Not necessarily doing anything wrong, but just going through my comfortable routine each day…for what purpose?
Through a conversation with a friend, God brought missions to my mind. At first I did the whole “eh, it’s probably not for me” dismissal in my head. It kept popping up, however, so I started praying about it. It didn’t go away so I decided to do some research and see what I could find on Christian missions trips. For me “doing research” means Googling it:-) So on May 13th, thanks to a Google search, I ran across Adventures in Missions’ website and found the World Race. After reading about the organization and the trip I had a sense of peace as if God were saying, “Rita, this is for you!” Of course I still had my doubts and I thought of every excuse I could think of as to why I shouldn’t go. Things like I could never leave my family and friends that long, I have a good job, I’m comfortable where I’m at, and I don’t want to ask people for money. However, I could not get this trip off my mind.
So I applied and signed up for an interview. The interview to be honest, intimidated me like crazy! It left me wondering if I really have what it takes to do this. Do I really have the faith and Biblical knowledge necessary to be a missionary? Maybe I made up this whole thing and I really shouldn’t be doing this at all. I doubted it so much that when AIM called me and told me I was accepted, I couldn’t tell them yes right away. I gave myself a week to pray about it. Well on Sunday of that week, my pastor just so happened to preach on missions. Crazy! I felt like the whole sermon was directed right at me. I took this as confirmation from God and committed myself to going on the World Race.
God wasn’t done though…the next Sunday I decided to go with my brother and sister-in-law to church and afterwards was asked if I would like to be prophetically prayed over. I have never had the opportunity for anyone to prophesy over me so I figured why not. Well, let me tell you, through those prayers, God addressed so many of the insecurities I have regarding my going on the World Race. It’s like He was telling me “Don’t worry about whether you feel qualified, I want you to do this and I will give you what you need.” I took that as another confirmation that yes, the World Race is where God wants me in 2014!
So yeah, that’s a little of my story so far. If you stuck with me, bless you:-) I decided if I’m going to do this whole blog thing I’m going to do it right and be vulnerable with you all, so bear with me. If you have any questions, comments, or encouragement for me I would love to hear from you. I can’t do this without all of your support!
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” – Ephesians 5:1-2
Rita
