Greetings, Brothers and Sisters In Christ!
First of all, let me tell you how grateful I am for all of you! God has truly blessed me with amazing friends and family and I will never take any of you for granted. Secondly, I want to thank you all ahead of time for reading blog#1; it means so much to me!
About Me
In case you don’t know, my name is Samantha Sky Grady (but you can call me Sam or Sky:). I am an 18-year old home-school senior completing the Phlebotomy program at A-B Tech for my last semester in high-school. In my free time (of which I have little to none…;)), I love to sing, act, dance, sleep, serve, organize, bullet-journal, hang out with friends, and clean (yes……you can hire me to help me out with my funds! *wink* *wink*: P). I am the second oldest of six rambunctious siblings whom I love dearly. My older sister, Hannah, moved out of the house two years ago, and so I’m actually the oldest sibling still in la casa (do excuse my Spanish….it sometimes just spits itself out…:).
I will be a certified Phlebotomist when I graduate this May and can’t wait to see what academic plans God has in store for me in the future. But for now, I have decided to go on a nine-month long mission trip gap year (yes, you all will we greatly missed…..please send me care packages while I’m gone!!!).To be honest, I had absolutely no idea what next school semester would look like for me and the mere thought of my own uncertainty was overwhelming. I am a planner and am not a very happy camper when life seems out of my control. But despite my doubt and confusion, God revealed His plan for me right when all hope of my future plans seemed lost. I can’t wait to tell you how God has used my weakness to show His strength and call me into missional living with the World Race Gap Year. Stay tuned!
My Crushed Dream; God’s Sovereignty
I love all my hobbies, but dancing is my favorite because it is very near and dear to my heart. When I was two years old, I wanted to be a “ballerina pilot” (whatever that means…;) and, although the pilot part of that dream dwindled away with time, the ballet part remained. My dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer has been the driving force behind my focused dedication for the past seven years of my life (I was a competitive gymnast for seven years before I seriously committed to dancing).
However, my dream was crushed in March of 2017 when I was forced to give up dancing due to prolonged—and quite intense—back problems. I was devastated and felt like I had let many people down and that God had let me down. I felt like a failure. But, you know what? God knew what He was doing all along. Quitting dance did not ruin His good plan for me; it was actually part of His plan for me, and I honestly can’t envision things going as wonderfully for me had I never stopped dancing!
You know this World Race thing I’m doing?! Yeh, thaaat! Welp, a year ago, the mere idea of travelling for nine months would have been a joke. In fact, whenever I thought about doing short term missions, my calendar always magically appeared to remind me that ballet held the reins on my schedule. My world revolved around dance! It was my time; it was my identity; it was my life. But since ballet was my passion…..was I really missing out on anything? I didn’t think so.
Despite many obstacles I faced in ballet, quitting was never an option for me. I was determined to reach my goals and was incapable of seeing myself as anything but a ballet dancer. If that says anything, then it might come as a surprise to you that I am no longer dancing. God must have known that it would take a heck of a lot of something to get me outta those pointe shoes and onto the mission field! Well I got something alright; something that blinded me to God’s goodness for a while….
About three years ago, I began having intense back pains and spasms that would last 24/7 and bring me to tears (of either pain or hopelessness) at least once-a-day. I couldn’t make it through class without popping a pill; I couldn’t get dressed without groaning in agony; I couldn’t live life with the joy I once had. I dare say that this was probably the darkest and hardest season of life I have ever experienced. My back pain was atrophying, to say the least, and negatively affected almost every aspect of my life: my moods, emotions, attitudes, mental health, physical health, motivation, etc. In short, my life was downward spiraling and hope seemed too far gone. Would God ever heal me so that I could painlessly chase my dream? God eventually did take away my pain (praise the Lord!), but it came with a price: quitting dance; failing myself and others; crushing my dream.
God’s faithfulness
But wait, ladies and gentlemen! If you are in a similar boat as I was, take heart! We serve a mighty God who works everything out for the “good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Although believing these words might seem preposterous, I can confidently say that there is great truth in them. During this time of doubt and confusion, my pastor used the following excerpt from a poem written by Corry Ten Boom (a Dutch Christian who helped many Jews escape during the Holocaust) in one of his sermons on trusting God:
“Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.”
For me, a small portion of the “upper” side has become visible—in other words, I see the good that has come from my pain, now that I’ve overcome it. God used my pain, guys, and I can see that now! I am oddly thankful that God allowed pain to be inflicted upon me because it has taught me to be more grateful for the times that I’m pain free (as pain does come back to haunt me ever so often), and to rely on God for my daily strength. Although we will never be able to see the “quilt” in its entirety until we reach heaven, we can rest assured knowing that God has seen it all along.
The Point
So why do I say all of this? I promise that I’m not trying to bore you, and I apologize if I am dropping zzzzzz’s:P. But seriously: ALL of this (my entire life, actually) has accumulated to this specific turning point in my life! It would be foolish for me to look back over my life, see the many ways in which God has prepared me for the World Race, and deny his hand in it all. That’s how clear it is. It’s as if every little detail has worked in together in harmony to create the beginning of this new chapter of my life—like a puzzle! And to think that He’s been preparing me my whole life for something I didn’t even know about until last month!? What a surprise!
I also learned a practical lesson out of this process that you might find applicable in your own life: often times we get impatient because we are unable to see where God is leading us and we have no clue what we’re supposed to do in life. But, if it was possible to know God’s plan for us all along, then life might seem monotonous. We might forget God because we find Him unnecessary. For me, the unknown future was the very thing that prepared me for my future (it built character and perseverance) and gave me the overflowing, unexpected excitement upon finding out God’s big news for me.
God’s Plan Revealed to Me
So what about this big news? A couple months ago my mom suggested that I take a gap year of some sort. “But I really wanna go to college,” I thought. Besides, I’m not a huge fan of the connotations that come with the phrase “gap year”. Well, my mom suggested one anyways called Impact 360, and, as interesting as it looked, it didn’t intrigue me very much. However, as I was conducting research on it, I happened to come across an organization called World Race. And let me tell you: as soon as I started reading about it, I knew that THIS WAS IT. Traveling has always sparked an interest in me, and I love doing mission work, so….why not do both?
The World Race Gap Year offers just that! And so, after lots of prayer, consideration, and asking around, I made a decision, guys: I HAVE COMMITTED TO THE WORLD RACE GAP YEAR 2018-2019! Lord willing, I will be temporarily living in Thailand, Malaysia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, sharing the love of Christ to those who are thirsty for the hope he freely offers to those who believe in his name (John 3:16).
To learn more, please check out my Instagram or Facebook.
I know that I focused a lot on my ballet story. But I truly believe that my decision to end ballet marked the beginning of a new chapter of my life called “following Jesus”. It’ll be a rough road, just as the Bible warns us, but I know that God will not give me anything that I can’t handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). If God can miraculously take away excruciating pain and use it for my good, then he can (and most certainly will) be faithful and remain with me always as I preach His Gospel unto the nations.
It has been a privilege to share how God has been working in my life. I am ecstatic about my upcoming mission trip and can’t wait to see how God uses me to make a difference in peoples’ lives. Please pray for me as I embark on this exciting journey. Also, your suppport would be more than appreciated, so please consider donating $$$! The easiest way to make a donation is to click the orange“Donate” box at the top of my blog.
Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more updates!
May God bless you,
~Samantha Sky
