Some people know from the day of their Salvation that they are called to missions. Some people feel the call much later in life. Others, like me, have been in-between.
I have always considered myself a fairly adventurous person – not in like, an extreme sports kind of way, but in an average-person, try-new-things kind of way. I love people. I love to travel. I’ve been on a few short-term mission trips.
I’ve always had missions in the back of my mind but had never seriously considered it or sought the Lord in earnest regarding His will for this area of my life. I was so focused on the next thing each year of high school and college that I didn’t stop to think about it.
If I’m being honest, I thought I would find a man in college and get my MRS degree, so I could “settle down” after college and not have to worry about “finding a career” and “supporting myself.” This has thankfully not turned out to be the case. I truly feel like I have the world at my feet, and I’m so grateful to be at a point in my life where I can do something like the World Race.
As the senior year of my college career commenced in August of 2012, people began asking me about my post-grad plans. I went through a tumultuous couple of weeks researching programs to teach English abroad, consult for my sorority, or work for the Peace Corps. None of the programs I looked at had a missions aspect, and the more I researched, the clearer it became that God had bigger plans for me.
I vaguely remembered a story I had come across last summer. It was a crazy story about a guy who tore his ACL on a mission trip, so I googled as many keywords from that story that I could remember, and someone’s World Race blog popped up. I reread the story and began investigating the home website. The more I read about the World Race, the stronger I felt about going. I prayed constantly, sought counsel, and did more and more research. I read blogs every single day and was so touched by the powerful things God was doing through this organization that I cried every single time I read the stories.
I have never been more certain of a decision in my life, and I know it’s because God directly intervened and showed me exactly what I was supposed to do.
I don’t know what my life after the Race will look like, but I know that for this season, this is what I’m supposed to do, and I am thrilled about the opportunity to go out into the world and be the hands and feet of Jesus on a whirlwind tour through 11 countries in 11 months.
