It's insane how much your life can change in the blink of an eye…
How one minute you can be ready to graduate college and take on the business world, and then the next minute God pulls on your heart strings and everything you thought you wanted doesn't really matter anymore.
One minute you are thinking about how to be the most successful business woman you can possibly be, and the next minute you have decided to drop everything comfortable in life to go backpacking across the world and live in a tent for 11 months.
That is exactly what happened to me…
If you asked me four months ago what my plan was after college, I would have told you that I was going to become an event planner, and that one day I would be planning award shows and working with celebrities. However, God decided that He had some different plans for me!
Over Christmas break, I went to Passion in Atlanta, and God invaded my heart. There was no stopping Him. He showed me His overwhelming and consuming LOVE. It wasn't the same love I had heard about while growing up in the church and attending a Christian university. It was an overpowering love that pushed all my doubts and fears away. He rescued me from a bondage that I had been allowing to take over my life for nearly two years. He set my heart on fire for His love and His word. I left Passion on Sunday in tears. The happiest tears I have ever cried, because I had finally felt the truly overpowering and amazing love of God.
I will forever look back on those days as a moment that changed my life forever. I left Passion 2013 with an overwhelming sense that God had called me for much bigger and better things than I had ever imagined. I didn't know where to go from there. God was calling me to do something more with my life, something with a bigger purpose than I had originally planned, but what? I wanted nothing more than to go out and share God's love and what He had done for me. I had been praying for God to show me what was next for me in life. I now had one semester of college left and no idea what I was going to do after graduation. Somehow, I still had complete faith that God had a plan for me.
On a Tuesday night in February, a friend of mine, Autumn, in a different sorority came into our meeting to ask us to buy bracelets from Threads of Hope to help fund her trip on The World Race. Before that moment, I had never heard of The World Race, but listening to her tell us about this amazing journey she was about to embark on peaked my interest. For the next three nights, I stayed up until three in the morning reading all about The World Race. A few days later, Autumn and I went to dinner and we talked about her decision to go on The World Race. I could feel God's presence in everything we talked about. He was surrounding the whole idea of The World Race. Again, God lit my heart on fire to go out and serve. He created a deep down desire in my heart to travel all around the world, live in situations that seem completely unappealing to others, and just love in the way that only a heart infected with Jesus can love.
God has perfect timing for everything! He takes everything that happens in life (good or bad) and turn it towards His glory. I am a firm believer that everything in life happens for a reason, and God continues to prove that to me over and over again. I was distant from God for nearly two and a half years, but He knew when it was exactly the right time for Him to invade my heart with His love. When I let go and had faith He would provide for me after graduation, He introduced me to The World Race. I can look back on my life and see situations that have led me to this decision to go on The World Race, and I have no doubt in my mind that this is the next step God has planned for my life.
I am so excited to see what other doors God continues to open for me through The World Race. I can't believe God has had this planned for me for so long, and I can't wait to see what else He has in store for these 11 months!
My next leap of faith…
Trusting in God completely to help me raise the money needed for this journey. Each racer has to raise $15,500 to go on the race. This pays for food, lodging, travel, etc. But in addition to that money, I will also need money for insurance, medications, gear, etc.
If you would like to support me in my fundraising, you can click on the Support Me! tab on the left of my blog. You can either donate one-time or set up a recurring deposit. You can also make a deposit through the mail. There are instructions under that tab how to do so. Please write my full name in the subject line (Alexandria Watson), so AIM will know the correct location for the donation.
Also, if you would like to support my friend Autumn Harper, she leaves in July, you can go to her blog and donate the same way. autumnharper.theworldrace.org
Thank you for reading my blog and thank you for your support!
GOD BLESS!
1 Peter 2:9-10
"But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you – from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted."
