Sometimes when I look back at how I got to where I am today, I am completely in awe of God. He's been preparing me for the World Race for a very long time.
I was 16 the first time I went to Costa Rica. My youth group and I got to stay in a villa and work with missionaries for 10 days. God used the people and the culture to completely break my heart. It was here where I learned that I had a heart for international missions.
I was 18 the second time I went to Costa Rica. This was right in the middle of making decisions about college and my future. I was able to share my testimony several different times on this trip. I learned that I love telling people about Jesus and how He has changed my heart and my life.
Shortly after that, I had to decide where I was going for college. I chose to go to Mount Vernon Nazarene University. I spent about 5 months there. Soon though, I started to get restless. I desparately desired the opportunity to surround myself with diversity and people who had yet to hear about Jesus. After much prayer, I felt the Lord calling me to Ohio State.
I went to school there for a while, and really enjoyed it. In the fall of 2011, a friend told me a little about the World Race. She didn't know all the details, but what she said intrigued me enough to look into it more. I found myself watching video after video and reading blog post after blog post. I began to pray about it, and the restlessness set in again. I really felt God calling me to the race. Not long after that, I began to doubt it. I had all these insecurities and selfish desires that I didn't want to deal with in order to go.
I convinced myself that I didn't need to go on the Race. For a few months, anyway. This past spring, I had a mini panic attack about what I was doing with my life. I realized that I had been ignoring God's call to go into the nations and that He was calling me to the world race. I stayed up until the early morning hours filling out my application, and one week later, I was accepted.
Since I was 16, God was developing in me a sensitivity to the needs of others and a love of world travel. Since I was 18, God has been teaching me the importance of sharing my story with others. He has continually put a hunger and thirst in my life for something more. If I had applied for the race when I first felt the Lord calling me to it, I would be on a completely different squad, going to different countries. God has been so faithful to put exactly what I need in my life at the right time. I am so in awe of how He has scripted the journey leading up to this new journey I am about to embark on.
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