I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life after college. Everyone has been asking “What do you want to go into” or “Are you going to grad school”? I grew up in an academic based family (go to school, then college, hopefully grad school, start a career, etc.) so the expectation has been to start furthering my career. Many people have been urging me to attend grad school but I don’t feel like that’s the next step right now.
This summer I knew I needed to figure out what I wanted to do after I graduate next May. This included spiritual gifts test, personality tests, enneagrams, etc to try and figure out who I was and what I’m good at. Back in April, I decided to go on a mission trip to Cuba. I love missions and I had not gone on a mission trip in two years so I went ahead and applied. The trip was absolutely amazing and I knew I wanted to go back on the mission field longer.
Literally on my LAST day of summer I was spending time with the Lord when he revealed to me that I will be going on the World Race. Honestly it shocked me that I heard it so clearly. The Race was something I’ve known about and absolutely wanted to do but it wasn’t something I thought about doing right out of college because of the price. I first heard about the Race in 2015 when I was still 19. I thought it was something great that I could do in the future when I became of age. Later on that year, a former missionary friend of mine announced she was going. I followed her journey and fell in love with the Race. I began to research more about the Race I saw how much it was making impact around the world but also in all of the Racers. On my Cuba trip there was a WR alumni that encouraged to think about it. In the midst of me processing what this meant in my quiet time I got a text from my dad saying “ You were overdrawn in your account so I just transferred money to you”. I instantly felt discouraged and began to doubt what just had been revealed to me. Since I had just took time off for the mission trip to Cuba my last check was way smaller than I was used to. I knew that my next check should come in the next few days, so I decided I would apply then because I knew that there was an application fee. As stated above, my biggest fear with going on the Race was fundraising. I was thinking how am I going to raise $18k when I’m struggling to pay the application fee? HOW SWAY, HOW? I was fearful of how I could go on this journey but decided to walk in obedience and simply apply.
After a few days of wondering if I could really do this, I finished my application and I decided to look at a link that explains more about the August 2018 routes. On that site it included a promo code to waive the application fee. Honestly, the application fee is not that much but I felt that God was showing me that I have called you to this journey and I will provide for you through this journey. After I scheduled my phone interview for two weeks later I got an email the next day stating that since my application was so clear they cancelled my interview and would call next week with a decision. Obviously I was thrown off by that but still excited that I would know in a few days rather than a few weeks. When Monday came I got the call that confirmed I was accepted. It was literally only a week between Him confirming that was the next step and me getting accepted. From waiving the application fee, to get accepted God is truly confirming that this is the next step.
When I was planning to announce that I was accepted I was worried that no one would support me because it is not the typical step of grad school or furthering my career. The amount of support that I received that was amazing and exceeded my expectation(Shoutout to Madison and Kaps for praying with me that night!!!). After feeling all of the support I received the Lord asked me “What if no one supported you?” What if everyone thought I was crazy and this wasn’t the right move? Would I still continue in obedience to Him regardless of what others thought? I began to ponder what on would I have done. I thought my life could be more comfortable in America working in a career that I’m not truly passionate about and it would be the “right step” after college. I also thought about how many people around the world who haven’t heard about Jesus or knew what it felt like to be loved by a Heavenly Father. Or how I could help those who are sick, sold into sex slavery, or in an orphanage. There are other people who will be affected by my obedience and I can’t afford to not follow where the Lord is leading me because it doesn’t fit in with the status quo. Jesus did not fit in the status quo in his time yet He made an impact in the world that still affects the world to this day. So I ask you, have you been walking in obedience?
