Thanks to all of you visiting my blog to see how God is using me for His Kingdom! I really can't believe what I'm about do, and for those of you who know me, you can't either.
First, let me tell you a little bit about this crazy journey I'm about to go on, The World Race. I will travel to 11 countries in 11 months sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. My team will leave in July 2012, and will visit Ireland, Ukraine, Russia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Malaysia, and one country to be determined. We will be partnering with churches and ministries in local communities to preach God’s Word, plant churches, work in orphanages, minister to women and children who are trapped in prostitution as a result of human trafficking, and bring restoration and hope to the nations through Jesus’s name.
Now, how in the world did I end up on this trip? As many of you know, I have always had a heart for the impoverished. Jesus says in Matthew 25:40 – “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” This really started to take shape in my life once I began to sponsor two children through a Christian organization called Compassion – one in Tanzania and one in India. From our correspondence back and forth, I have gotten a glimpse into their lives and the daily struggles they face. My Tanzanian child, Eliwangu, has a family income of $60 per year, for example. This type of knowledge has led me to re-evaluate my life and the blessings God has so graciously given to me. I want to show His love to others, and have recently felt Him strongly leading me to follow that call overseas.
These are all of the questions that have been running through my mind:
- This is super dangerous! What if I get murdered by terrorists, kidnapped, put in jail, crushed by an earthquake, or who knows what else?!
- I'm kind of a wimp. I'm an awful sick person even when I'm at home in the US, in air conditioning, cuddled up in my bed, with chicken noodle soup, ginger ale, and my mom. How will I deal in a third world country?
- I've never been on a mission trip or outside of the US for that matter. Can I really do this? Shouldn't I be starting small and working my way up to a trip like this?
- I'm not a super Christian that knows the entire Bible backward and forward. I'm not the most outgoing person in the whole world – how on earth am I going to PREACH? I am unworthy.
- I'm going to miss my family like mad. I'm going to miss events like my brother's graduation, my roommate's wedding, etc. How will my relationship with my boyfriend be affected – am I ruining everything?
- Can I really raise $15,500 during a time where people are struggling in our economy?
And these are the promises God keeps bringing to mind:
- Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
- Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
- Matthew 19:29 – And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
- John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
- 1 Peter 5:6-7: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
- Isaiah 54:17 – "No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.
- John 15:16-19 – You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
And I leave you with this:
2 Timothy 1:7 – For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
So have I lost my mind? Yes. Am I happy to lose my mind and myself for Jesus and His purposes? Yes. Bring it on World Race!
