For my philosophy of religion class, I was required to read an essay titled, “Why I’m not a Christian”. As someone who loves the Lord and has a deep understanding of who He is, this infuriated me. This morning, I had to answer 20 questions based on this essay. And over the weekend, I spent 3 days debating on I should actually read it or not. Anyways, fast forward to today, 12/12/17, when I was questioned on an essay that was meant to minimize who Christ is, I was shown just how big and loving He is; I was called and accepted by the World Race Gap Year program.
Let me back you up a bit- About halfway through my senior year of high school, I had come to the conclusion that I was going to college, community college, but college none the less. For those of you who know, I’ve struggled with schooling my whole life and was not thrilled on this. But I ended up moving to my favorite place on earth and went to school to make my parents happy.
During the first couple of months in Santa Cruz, I had a ton of alone time with God. Like more than I had ever had in my whole life. Having that time with Him and sharing it with a community who loved God was even greater than I could have ever imagined. After learning to love God more intensely than I ever had, I started feeling a push. A push for something bigger than myself and the world I lived in, bigger than my fears, bigger than my hopes. This push was mission work.
Living in constant fear if it was just myself telling me to apply or if it was God, I hesitated on applying. I hesitated on the thing God tells us to do- spread His love. I did research on what missions I would do and which ones would work best. But in reality, it was never up to me or what I wanted. My timing was nothing compared to His. I then applied to the World Race with nothing but the knowledge of what a friend told me.
Which brings us back to this morning. God reminded me of His loving and the perfectness of His timing. In September, I’ll be one of 330 students traveling to India, Nepal, Swaziland, and Guatemala serving Jesus for 9 months. I have never been more excited or shown more love then I have been/will be in the remaining months.
If you are wondering how you could help me on this journey with Christ, here are some things you could (but not limited to) do:
–Donate! This trip is going to cost $15,800, all of which I will have to fundraise. If where God is taking me excites you, please consider partnering with me financially. There is a ‘DONATE’ button at the top of the page if you’d like to donate- anything helps!!
–Pray! Please continue to pray for me as financial and spiritual struggles are bound to appear!
–Advice! I am always open to hearing and getting advice from people who have been on missions such as Gap Year.
All of these are essential to my journey onto the race, and I can’t do it without your help!!! I am so incredibly blessed to have been given this opportunity, and I am so grateful to everyone who supports me along the way. Jesus is doing such remarkable things and I cannot wait to see where He leads my team.
With Grace,
Annalise Hite
