I never imagined myself as a missionary. Don’t get me wrong. The idea of going to another country to serve those in need has always sounded really neat to me, but I never thought I was capable of doing anything like that. And yet, I’ve signed up for the World Race-an 11 month long mission trip where I will be journeying to 11 different countries serving in raw community and building relationships with those less fortunate. I mean, who does that? I do apparently. I don’t even camp. And I don’t like spiders. And I’m introverted. And I don’t have every passage of the Bible memorized. I could give myself a million reasons not to do this, but I only need one to know that I should. God is calling me to do this.
Let me make something clear. It’s not like how it is in the movies; at least it wasn’t for me. God didn’t shine a light down on me and speak in a Mufasa voice, “Danielle, you need to go on the World Race.” It was more subtle than that. I remember sitting in my cubicle at the law firm that I work for, staring at the computer screen trying to figure out the file in front of my face, when it happened. It wasn’t a rush or a whoosh or a bam or a bang. It was like feeling a tickle run down my spine. I knew I should be doing more. That happened last November and a few days later I was searching for volunteer opportunities or short mission trips I could take in the summer. Then I came across the World Race (remembering vaguely that a friend of a friend had just gotten back from that), but noticing the length of the mission and the cost I quickly shut that idea down. For some reason though, I kept coming back to it thinking, well maybe…
The holidays passed by and one day my mom and I were in the car when I hesitantly started talking about wanting to do a mission trip and how I came across this organization called the World Race. She listened patiently and when I was done I could tell her mind was reeling absorbing all of this new information. I knew she was worried about how safe it would be, how long I would be gone, and even, maybe, not liking it all once getting out on the field, but I think she could tell that I needed to do this. When we got home my stepdad passed us that day’s mail and I had received another one of those annoying credit card applications, but wouldn’t you know it…it was packaged in a fake passport saying something along the lines of Take the Journey. I guess that was my rush, whoosh, bam, and bang moment.
I said this in my previous post but I’m going to say it again. I want to be a good daughter, a patient friend, and a loving Christian. I don’t know what the World Race has in store for me. I don’t know what to expect. I just know if I can keep those three things in mind then I will be just fine. Sometimes the best thing to do is to have no expectations at all and to just go with the flow. I believe in God, I believe that He has called me to take this journey, and I believe you have finally made it to the end of my post.
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