For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever. – 1 Peter 1:23-24 NIV
A year ago, if you asked me what the next four years looked like for me, I would have said, “I’m going to be studying biomedical engineering and pre-med at Georgia Tech in Atlanta where I will do Army ROTC because I received a scholarship and want to serve my country.” I never could have anticipated all the ways I have succeeded, failed, and grown in the past year, but I would change my answer if I could go back and give a new answer.
If you were to ask me now, I would say, “I’m going to live the next four years of my life (and hopefully the rest of my life) living out the plans the Lord has for me. I have plans and dreams for how I would love the next four years to go, but I know the Lord has the best plans for me and I get to live out those plans as a daughter of Christ. Yes, some of my plans have stayed the same, but a lot has changed. My heart.
For a long time, I’ve been living in a state of survival. Over the course of the past eight years, my dad’s alcoholism became out of control, my parents divorced, I moved, I was in an abusive relationship, and then I went to college. There was never a period in my life where I truly sat in the Lord’s presence and asked him for healing and renewal. Never, until I got to school, where the Lord opened my eyes to his presence in my life through each and every moment. The Lord had been planting seeds in my life that I never noticed until I noticed him. My passion for injustice and people who don’t have the luxuries I get to live my life with. Women who have been sexually assaulted or trafficked. People who have struggled with mental health or eating disorders. All these seeds broke through the surface of the dirt in my life and oh my, let me tell you how they’ve grown.
I had noticed all these passions, but to be completely honest, I shoved them off to the side to live the life I wanted. Through my own story of redemption, I’ve seen that I can’t ignore the Lord’s plans for my life anymore. If half the people in my life had said, “No” to God, I would never have been in a place where I get to say, “Yes, God, I’m in!”
So that is my long-winded way of getting to the why of my journey to the World Race. I want to do the World Race because…
The Lord has shown me time and time again that when He asks me to change my plans it’s because He has much, much better plans for me and His people. So, I’m saying, “Yes” to God. “Yes”, to everything He has planned for me regardless of how inconvenient or scary it might be to me. Yes, to the big plans I know He has for my life fighting injustice and serving people. Yes, to leaving behind my friends, family, school, plans, and everything else to serve Him. Yes, to being used to bring God’s love to more of His people because that same love has never failed me. Yes, to basking in the privilege of being part of His Kingdom and majesty and getting to be close to the brokenhearted just like He is. But most importantly, I’m saying, “Yes” to trusting my God and living fully in the courage of being a daughter of Christ.
Thank you for reading, listening, and supporting me. I’m praying for each and every one of you who reads this. You are a vital part of my journey with Lord and World Race.
Grace and Peace,
Kendall
