In early ’08, my friend was online searching for a free trip around the world when she came across the World Race website. She said that when she saw it, she knew that this was for me. She said it was from God.
When I started reading about it, I was SO excited. It seemed like the perfect fit. It paired my desire to travel with my heart for ministry. I wanted to apply right then and there. Then, I took a step back. When I thought about the implications, I was no longer interested. It seemed like a wonderful opportunity. BUT, to dedicate a year of my life to ministry, to rely completely on the leading of the Holy Spirit, to abandon everything to serve Him, to completely step out of my comfort zone, AND have to raise the financial support to go… Wow! That was just asking way too much. I wasn’t ready for that kind of sacrifice. That was like Biblical stuff. The kind of thing I would read about in the Bible, not actually do myself. Sounded like a great opportunity and a wonderful ministry… for someone else.
A few months later, I was still struggling. God had revealed to me through dreams and visions, prayer, and speaking through other Christians that I would be moving overseas. He revealed to me that I would be traveling, that I would be moving abroad, that I would abandon everything specifically I would lose my apartment, my job, and my car. But was it Peace Corps? Teaching Business in China? The World Race? I still didn’t know. During this time, I spent a lot of time in prayer, and God continued to validate that I would be going somewhere new, somewhere overseas, but WHERE?
When it came down to it, I continued to pray and started to consider the timing. For all practical purposes with the current ministries I was involved in, my responsibilities at work, my physical, emotional, and spiritual preparation, I knew there was no way I would be ready to sell everything I own, move out of my apartment, and leave the country before the end of the year. Since China would be leaving in July and Peace Corps in October, this realization eliminated two of the three possibilities I’d been praying about, but I still wasn’t convinced.
