October 23, 2014. It was a Thursday. The day I got accepted to do the World Race.
Ever since I was in high school it has been on my heart to go to other countries and help people. What that meant, I had no idea. Last January I went on a week long missions trip to Llano Verde, Guatemala. I had high expectations going into this trip that it would be life changing, i had no idea how much.
After I got home from Guatemala, there was this fire in me. I felt it growing inside of me. I saw things through new eyes. It was like I had put on these glasses that showed me how broken this world really was. It showed me all of my own selfish desires, and how materialistic I really am. It broke my heart as I began to see how self absorbed I am.
I knew from there on that overseas missions was something I wanted to pursue further. But what? How?
Then I heard about it. The World Race.
Blog after blog I read. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month.
After just two months, I knew I wanted to do this.
I thought, “OK, 5 years from now, I will do this!”
A month later… “OK, 2 years from now, I will do this! Money will be better and the timing will make more sense!”
A month later I felt this strong sense as if God was saying, “Cassidy I am not calling you to wait until money and timing all makes sense. I am calling you to GO.”
What was I supposed to do with that? How in the world was this going to happen? I am a Young Life leader, who was going to take my place? How could I leave these high school girls that I have spent so much time investing in and cared about so much? I am a 20 year old broke college student. How God, how?
Then, the September 2015 World Race routes came out. I freaked out. I went around calling, texting, snapchatting everyone I knew telling them that they had come out.
I read them all at least 5 times. I read a brief summary about each country, in each route. As I read about these countries and their desperate need for Jesus Christ, I fell more deeply in love with our Creator and this phenomenal opportunity He has presented.
Most of the responses I got to my excitement about these routes coming out were encouraging. Most people know my heart and how heavily this has been lying on my heart. There were, however, some responses that I wasn’t exactly expecting. I got one, a look, of what seemed a mixture of total confusion to what I was thinking and disgust. That broke my heart.
I didn’t know how to respond to the people who didn’t agree with me.
The next day, I got into my car and turned on my Spotify playlist of For King and Country. Their new album which I had been listening to on repeat for 2 weeks by that point. And a song came on.
It said, “To the dreamers, Wide-eyed believers, Hanging onto hope by a thread…”
I stared in amazement at this little device that spoke straight to my heart. I kept listening, only to hear these sweet, sweet words that could only be coming from our God. It was like He was singing a love song to me. Encouraging me.
“To the soulful, Heart open hopeful, Keep on charging ahead…”
KEEP ON CHARGING AHEAD. I felt like in that moment in my car, driving on some back road God spoke through this song right to me. How could I do anything but go home that evening and apply for the World Race.
To which brought me to where I am right now. A future World Racer. September 2015 I will be going to Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Philippines and Malaysia to meet the needs of the community as well as show them all how great is my God!
I ask for your prayers as I begin this journey, and if you would like to contribute to my trip it would be so greatly appreciated and you can give an online donation by following the link below.
https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=Cassidy%20Cook
God Bless You All!!!
