I can distinctly remember the moment. It was October of last year in my closet in Hilton Head reading Charles Spurgeon’s ‘Morning and Evening’. I set up a beach chair in my closet because I paid $60 for that thing and I made SURE I was going to get my use of it. Some things you never forget (i.e. the price of things you regret spending too much money on and moments that define the trajectory of your life).
The devotional was written based off of John 6:67 which says “will ye also go away?” Spurgeon writes, ‘If life be long – He changes not. If we are poor, what better than to have Christ who can make us rich? When we are sick, what more do we want than Jesus to make our bed in our sickness? When we die, is it not written that ‘neither death, nor life, nor things present nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!’ We say with Peter, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?'”
On the bottom of the devotional, I wrote “Lord Jesus, make me willing to go where you send me.”
You gotta be careful when you say things like that. The Lord sure does have a sense of humor.
I recalled attending my friend Sumner’s birthday party slightly before graduation last year. There, I spoke with a girl named Landry who said she was doing the World Race upon graduation. I think at the time I said something like “wow, that sounds amazing but I don’t think it’s ever something I could do.”
And then there I was, sitting in my beach chair in my closet, heart pounding, recalling that moment with Landry, asking “Lord, are you sure? Like… super sure?”
I thought back on times at church where they played the video montages of people around the world doing missionary work. I can picture it now; the cool music plays in the background while people sing and clap their hands with children in Africa. I remember being in the audience thinking “wow, thats something I wanna do! Can we do it though, Lord?” I felt like it wasn’t plausible at the time, being in 5th or 6th grade. You can’t really leave everything behind and move to Africa at that age.
So I texted my mom and said “mom, what would you think about me doing the World Race?” I know if mom is really against something, she’ll say no straight away and it’ll be end of discussion. In this case, she didn’t say no! I was shocked!
So I said “Lord, I’m just gonna keep walking through doors if you keep opening them.”
And then He kept opening them! And here we are today. About 2 and a half months from the start of our adventure.
I am trepidatious, of course. But I trust the Lord. He is turning all of my fear into excitement. I can’t believe He wants to take me on this adventure.
The Lord is calling you to an adventure too! He calls some of us to stay and some of us to go. Wherever you are, He is with you and He wants it to be fun and wonderful and full of joy and Himself. Wait expectantly on Him! He will fulfill those dreams of your heart that you think are impossible. “Can you so much as dream of a better friend than He has been to you?”
