One of the most common questions I have gotten since after about month 6 of the Race is ‘what’s next?’ For the longest time my answer was ‘I am planning to not plan’. I knew going on to the World Race that I had a tendency to want to be in control of my life and make all my plans. I’m not known to be one to sit around and wait to hear plans from someone else and that was starting to translate over to my relationship with the Lord.
Going into month 2 of the World Race the Lord asked me to trust him and give all control over to Him. That’s when I also realized that that needed to be for my future as well. I went months without doing networking with companies, researching future job opportunities or adventures abroad. I just sat and waited on the Lord to show me what’s next.
In this process, my relationship with the Lord grew deeper than ever before. I have been able to walk into a place where I am seriously not concerned about my future. I know the Lord has it in his hands. I knew that in His timing he was going to provide whatever I was supposed to do after the Race.
Then month 8 rolled around. Before month 8, we had a debrief with leadership that focused quite a bit on what we call our year 2 (the year after the World Race). Our leadership taught us that AIM believes in Jesus’ model of discipleship: “Jesus spent three years teaching his disciples. Three years of intensive, personal, challenging life together. Three years living in intimate community. The journey was long and difficult, but it resulted in a movement that continues to this day.”
It was then that I knew I didn’t want to be done with intentional community and wanted to continue to find ways to grow after the World Race. The Lord also revealed to me that although He has loved me not planning, He wanted to walk me into a season where we get to make choices together.
Before the World Race, I’ve always looked to the Lord to tell me exactly where He wants me and what He wants me to be doing. He’s begun to show me that I no longer need direct directions. That by living in close intimacy with Him, He will go wherever I go. He’s shown me that He has a big calling on my life and that I can’t exactly run away from that calling. He has a big calling on my life and that is that. Wherever I go and whatever I do, He will use me to bring Kingdom.
The craziest thing happened next, He told me to share my desires with Him. At this point I had been exploring continuing missions abroad, going to CGA (a year 2 program with AIM) and returning to MN. I do have a deep desire to continue missions abroad some day, but if I was being totally honest with myself and the Lord, my desire currently was to return to MN back in my incredible community up there.
Well be careful when you tell the Lord what you are desiring, because wow, He can do incredible things. In Malaysia, I got a call from one my best friends saying a room out of no where has opened up in a house in Minneapolis with her and some of my closest Bethel friends. That should have been a clear enough sign to me that the Lord was blessing my desire to go back to MN, but I decided to take it one step further. I asked Him if He could please make it abundantly clear that this is where He wants to use me when I return by providing me a job.
One week later…I got a job offer!
So, if you ask me now, “what are your plans for after the Race”. I’ll tell you that the Lord orchestrated what’s next for me in better ways than I could have ever imagined. I am moving in with some of my closest friends in an adorable house in Southeast Minneapolis, near all of the fun running trails around the lakes. I am working for a company called Invenshure as an Executive Assistant to an incredible boss and man of God.
I had every desire to continue to be developed and work in the mission field after the Race and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing. It’s a bit unconventional when you think of typical missions, but the business world is most definitely in need of missionaries, so that is where I am being called for now. It’s where I always thought I would be after graduation, but the World Race took me for an incredible detour that will forever change my perspective on the world. I’d like to think that after a ‘year off’ on the World Race that I am actually more equipped to bring Kingdom than I was ever before. I don’t know how long I will be there, but I know it will be a season of a lot of growth that will equip me for whatever is next, whether it be back on the mission field abroad, starting a non-profit, or continuing as a missionary within the business world.
I am excited to settle down in a place for more than a month and begin to plant some deeper roots. I may get involved in some Bible studies, lead a small group and/or who knows what all the Lord has in store for this next season, but I sure know it’s going to be a good one.
Minnesota, here I come!
