Why now? This is a question I’ve heard and, indeed, been asking myself as I plan to leave for the World Race missions trip in January 2019. I’m finishing up my first year as a teacher, which they say is the hardest. I have a good living situation and a secure job. I’ve developed relationships with the middle school students and my coworkers. I have great friends, a wonderful family, and four darling nieces that I can’t get enough of. So it’s reasonable to ask, why now? Why am I going on the World Race now?
I learned about the World Race several years ago. As a junior in college studying elementary ed, I was considering dropping out to go on this trip. However, God didn’t bless that plan. After graduating, I was sure that the time was right to go. Yet I still did not feel peace about it, and I accepted a teaching job back home. Now, near the end of my first year of teaching, I felt a still, small voice prompting me to look into missions opportunities again. And I kept coming back to the World Race. After thinking and praying about it, I applied and was accepted the next day. I felt a peace about this decision that only can come from taking a leap of faith to do God’s work.
Why did God want me to wait to take this trip? Maybe my heart wasn’t in the right place before. Perhaps I’ll be able to use my experience as a teacher on the World Race; maybe I needed to learn lessons about patience and faith and peace and even anxiety management before I could effectively serve God as a missionary far from home. Maybe my family, friends, or students needed me here.
So instead of the question, “Why now?,” I think there’s a different question that needs to be asked: Why not now?
What complaints or inconveniences can stand before the God of the universe in his perfect knowledge? I can’t understand God’s timing, but I am thankful that I don’t need to. I can lay this trip, and my life, in his capable hands with the trust that he sees all. The things I’ll miss over the duration of my trip–including holidays, weddings, and sleepovers with my nieces–can’t stop me from obeying the calling God has placed on my heart. So indeed, I’ll say, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8
