How did I get here? How is it that my life seems to stand still and yet rush ahead all at once? There is nothing to be said except how great a God I serve! I feel like there’s always been something different about me, something special that has set me apart from the rest. I heard God’s call to serve when I was young, and it has stuck with me since then. I was twelve years old when I first felt called to missions. I can’t really explain what the feeling was, but I knew that I was being called, and that I had to be obedient. And so that night, I began to search for mission trips. I was young and eager, ready to respond to God’s call. That night was when I first came across The World Race. Of course I was way too young to go, but I knew that this was where I needed to go. This was going to be where I was going to serve.
I realize now that God was planting the seeds into my life that night. He was showing me all of the great things that He had in store for my life. In the following years I waited for my time to come. There were times where I lost sight of God’s vision for me, and I strayed from His path. Looking back on the past five years of my life, God has been so good and so deliberate in all of His ways. Whenever I found myself in a dark place in my life, He would remind me of His plans for me. I’d find myself checking The World Race Instagram, or watching different racers’ Youtube videos to see what kind of work was being done to glorify the Kingdom. Knowing that this was God’s plan for me gave me strength and direction.
After waiting so long, I never thought that going on The World Race would become a reality. It was something that I really wanted, but it didn’t seem possible. So I began to see it as a dream, something that was out of my reach. I started to disregard this calling and focus on other plans for the future. But God made sure to pull me back in and remind me of the plans that He has written for me.
Shortly after being baptized this past summer, I heard a call from God telling me to “surrender and serve.” I knew what it meant to serve: to do whatever was required by me in order to build up and glorify the Kingdom; to step in whenever I was needed. I didn’t know what my ministry was (honestly I’m still trying to figure that out) but I knew that I would serve in whatever way was needed. It was the idea of surrendering that was a little more ambiguous to me. I thought that it meant to give up material items, to live with less and spend more of my time in prayer and meditation instead of on social media. This part is true, by giving up time and belongings I can grow in my relationship with Christ, but I realize now that God had a different meaning of surrender for me. He wants me to surrender my free will and my control over situations. I have to trust in Him, and let Him take control of my life. It’s not my place to decide what I want to do to serve God’s Kingdom, it’s His. I just have to open myself up so that I am ready to take heed to His directions.
This call to “surrender and serve” set me back on track to The World Race because I was reminded that this was His will for me. The fact that taking a year off to serve His Kingdom was not the first thing on my list of things to do after high school is all the more reason that I knew I had to apply. Even though the signs were clear that this was and still is His will, I questioned if it was really what I was supposed to be doing. So I said, “Lord if this is your will, I will be accepted; and if I am accepted I will go.” So here I am Lord, I will go wherever you lead me.
