A dream. A vision. A plan.
This is the story of my beautiful sister, Kelsey.
Kelsey was driven, determined, and disciplined to live out her love for softball as a young teenager. Her family supported her fully, and did anything they could to make this dream a reality. All of her hard work paid off as a junior in highschool when Kelsey was offered a scholarship to Baylor University in Texas. She accepted. This was the desire she longed for, and she was finally beginning to see the fruit of her labor.
Opportunity and success was instantaneous for Kelsey. When she was only a freshman, the softball team went to the Woman’s College World Series. This was a first in Baylor history and Kelsey was able to partake in this event. Afterwards, there was much talk of Kelsey being very successful in the next three years of playing. Her dream of playing softball soon became larger as she began training to hopefully one day play in the Olympics.
On the exterior, Kelsey was flourishing.
On the interior, there was a war waging.
The truth is she was finding little satisfaction with the life she was leading. During her senior year of highschool and throughout her freshman year of college she was stealing money from her family, drinking, partying, and filling her life with things to try and fill the void she had been feeling.
She began to pity the life she was making for herself. It turns out that her love of softball wasn’t filling the empty voids in her life. She turned to what the world says is fun. It turns out that only left her satisfied for a few hours, leaving even bigger voids.
Little did Kelsey know that her life was about to radically change. In June 2007, after the World Series, she was invited to go to Tanzania, Africa.
Kelsey had no real knowledge of how much God loved her before she came to Africa. She wasn’t walking with God; she wasn’t living a life pleasing to God; she wasn’t even desiring to have a relationship with God.
Her decision to go would change the course of her life forever.
One night the group she was with went to a church that most would see as insignificant. Dirt floors, a make-shift tin roof, 6 wooden benches, and half the congregation children. There were no four walls to this church. There was, however, love and a heart of worship. As Kelsey was observing, she began to encounter God for the first time. She said, ” I had little knowledge about this Kingdom, but the way He encountered me was like I was floating; I was crying and lost myself in this supernatural feeling of being out of earth. I knew I needed more of this.” She then heard her Heavenly Father tell her that her past didn’t matter and that He loved her. This experience woke her up to the reality that she had so much more to live for.
She came back a different person. She was no longer Kelsey Sage the softball player. She came back Kelsey Sage, daughter of the Most High King. As hard as it was, she knew she had to surrender her life love of playing Division I softball. Everything in her life changed: relationships, her friends, her dreams, and her reputation. The hardest change was that she left Baylor and stopped playing softball. Not because she had to, but because she knew following the will of the Lord would bring the most freedom. And His plans for her life would send her on an experience of a lifetime. The World Race.
Because Kelsey chose to follow the Lord, I now have the awesome pleasure of serving with her around the world. Kelsey is wise, understanding, and full of such compassion. She is a woman radiating deep love, not just for her God, but for His children.
She is now driven and determined to see His Kingdom come on earth just as it is in Heaven. Kelsey forfeited her greatest desire of playing in the Olympics all for the sake of the Gospel. She still loves softball, but her greatest desire now is to just love people as Jesus loves.
My sister needs help, though.
She still needs $2,000 to finish the race. If you would like to support her mission of loving people and bringing Kingdom you can go to her blog site: kelseysage.theworldrace.org
