I have felt a calling to the missions field for most of my life. I used to think I knew exactly what that would look like and was certain that I wanted to go into medical missions. Over the past few years, however, I have begun to question if medicine was really the direction I wanted to go. Then early in 2016, I heard God tell me to sign up for this missions trip called the World Race. I knew what it was and was planning on doing it sometime in the future but not now.
I came up with a bunch of things that would have to happen before I would apply – such as someone talking to me about it without me mentioning it and getting an unexpected $50 two weeks in a row. That Sunday someone mentioned it to me. Then on Monday when I went into work, I was given a $50 bill that I had found several weeks earlier but no one had claimed. I wasn’t too happy with God so I was very glad when I reached the end of the next week without receiving $50. Or so I thought until God told me to think about it. That’s when I realized that the pay from the overtime I had worked during that week was a little over $50. With all of my “qualifications” fulfilled, I signed up for a route that would leave in January 2017. Since God had so clearly led me to apply, I was confident that I would be accepted.
I wasn’t though. Instead I was given a list of areas they would like to see me work through/experience (more) healing in before I could reapply for a future trip. At first I was really mad at God. I didn’t understand why He would so clearly lead me in one direction and then slam the door in my face. At least it sure seemed to me like that’s what happened. Then God asked me a question that really shook me up, “If you never went on another missions trip again, would you still trust Me and believe that I am good?” At the time, the answer was no and that helped me realize that I really did need to work on some things in my life starting with where my priorities were. I began to see that I had let the idea of being a missionary become more important to me than doing what God asked me to do.
Fast forward to earlier this year. I had set aside the idea of going on the World Race or really any missions trip for that matter. Then one week five different people asked me when I would go on another missions trip and three of them specifically asked if I would ever try again to go on the World Race. When the first two people asked, I pretty much ignored it; third & fourth – is God trying to tell me something? 5th – Okay, God, I get it. So I applied again. This time I was accepted.
The main reason I chose this route was because I wanted to go to Mongolia and China but then the route was changed and neither country is on the itinerary anymore. If they hadn’t been there in the first place though, I probably wouldn’t have reapplied and I definitely would not have chosen this route as it is now.
I wrote this in my journal as I was going through the process of applying the first time. There have been so many times when I have gone back and been amused at what God had already revealed to me. Because, to be honest, if I had known how this journey was going to go at the beginning, I wouldn’t have started it but now that I’m where I am now, I can look back and see how much I have grown and I know the future holds even more growth.
This post was actually written in July/August as part of a series on why I signed up for the World Race. I’ve decided to go ahead and post at least some of the series. My current plan is to post follow-up blogs on if/how my perspective has changed.
