Almost everyone I know has asked me why I decided to apply to go on the World Race. Those who know me well have asked, “what made you finally decide to apply now?” because they know I have been considering it for a while.
To answer that question, you should know that God has been teaching me a lot this past year. My first “What now, God?” came after I decided to fully surrender my life to Christ in March of 2018. I knew He was calling me away from the life I was living and toward a life of trusting His plans. I began to get involved at church and Roots College Ministry and my life was filled with more true joy than I could have ever imagined.
In October of 2018 I began to really pray about where God was leading me next. I brought friends and family into my “What now, God?” as I asked them to help me pray about where God would have me go and what He would have me do and it became really clear to me that I was supposed to leave my job at a local bank, move back in with my parents, and start going to college to become a social worker. While I was so excited to begin this next part of my life, I was absolutely terrified of letting go of all of the stability I had clung to and letting God provide everything I needed.
I spent almost all of my savings on tuition and school supplies and left my comfortable and beloved job at the bank. Just one week after my last day of work, I tripped while running down a hill and shattered my elbow. I’m talkin’ my funny-bone decided to relocate to the side of my forearm and it took six pins and a plate to put everything back together. I was devastated and really struggled with why God allowed me to be unable to work after I had given up so much to follow Him. I cried out “What now, God? What else are you going to take away from me?” I prayed and poured over Psalm 77 and began to realize that God wanted me to rely on Him to provide daily, exactly as much as I needed.
Even after finding a job, I often wondered why God was guiding me away from my life of routine, stability, and comfort. I wondered why dating never seemed to work out and if that had anything to do with God’s next step for me. I began to look at the World Race again. In early May, a guy I really liked said, “Hannah, you don’t need to be tied down” and that was when it really hit me: God had asked me to step away from things that were tying me down because they were distractions from His bigger plan. Yet again I asked, “What now, God? Where are you leading me? What is your plan for me?” Out of all the times that I had read the blogs and looked at routes for the World Race, I finally felt at peace.
I asked my loved ones for prayer and I took yet another step toward this life of unpredictability and full dependence on God by applying for the World Race: Semesters trip to Thailand and Cambodia. I am so humbled, blessed, and grateful for everything that God has done in my life this past year and a half. I am learning to let go of my plans for myself and trust that God’s plans are better.
So here I am, writing my first blog for the World Race and asking, “What now, God?”
