Two years ago we were preparing our hearts for marriage, so excited to live in a brand new city, with new jobs, and building new community. Here we are two years later leaving all those things behind to share the gospel all over the world.
Months ago we started to wonder, is there something more? Is the Lord calling us to do something more? We both were processing this separately, but in conversation one day we brought it up to each other. It was obvious that the Lord was creating this desire in our hearts separately and in His time it became an idea that we actively began to pursue together. Shortly after this conversation we attended church on a Sunday morning that was focused on being “mission minded.” Leaving church that day I blurted “Brad, what if we just went on the World Race?!” I was halfway kidding, but the conversation soon took a more serious tone. The Word Race is a year-long mission trip in which you travel to and live in 11 countries over the course of 11 months. We were both familiar with this program through friends in our community.
We then began to do our research and the Lord began to waken a desire in our heart to travel and share the gospel. Eventually, our question changed from “What if?” to “Why not?” We soon began to pray and really discern if this was something that the Lord was calling us to do, and if it was, why wouldn’t we follow His calling. Life here in Charleston for us is comfortable. We love our friends, our church, and our community.
Through this process we have realized that there is a difference between being comfortable and richly experiencing God’s peace. Sometimes to truly lean on the Lord and experience His peace in our lives we have to sacrifice being comfortable. We really felt like it was our time to step out of our comfort zone and follow Christ’s calling for our lives. Here we sit a few months after making a decision to “go” just stepping back in awe at how the Lord is faithful in His sweet promises.
Leaving friends, family, steady jobs, and the town we call home is harder than we imagined, but following the Lord’s calling brings such sweet peace. His provision and protection in this process so far has shown us such affirmation that the Lord will provide when we surrender to Him.
Isaiah 52:7 quickly became a treasured verse in our hearts after committing to go on the World Race. “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!” We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We want to be challenged, and we want to step out of our comfort zones for Christ. We want to live and love bigger than ourselves.
