“I want to be a woman who follows God. A woman who steps out in faith and moves as God leads. I don’t want to live a conventional life. I want to be different. I want a life that is full of excitement and joy. You find the most joy-filled life when you’re in the center of God’s will. So I search for God’s will as I make big decisions. I don’t want to go in the wrong direction. I want to do what’s right. For many years I have wanted to live differently. My family doesn’t have a past of missions or ministry jobs but I want that to be my life.”
I graduated from college in December 2010. I have always wanted to be a teacher, but I found myself with an extra semester before the next school year started. In the spring of 2011, I did a 5 month YWAM (youth with a mission) program. YWAM was my first taste of long-term missions and I traveled to China for a few months. I explored what God was showing me, but in the end I couldn’t explore too much, because I was committed to teaching that fall. I was a little disappointed that my next steps were already planned for me and I couldn’t consider other possibilities. December 2011, I learned about the World Race. Immediately I decided I wanted to go on this crazy adventure. Live a life of ministry AND travel around the world. Yes please! I finished my two year commitment to teaching and quit my job in 2013. I told my students and family that the World Race was only one year and that I’d be back in the classroom soon enough. But as the World Race started, I realized I had the same opportunity that YWAM brought me. I could commit to the classroom upon arriving home, or I could explore what other options God has for me. A few months into the Race, I decided that I wasn’t going back to a full-time job. I would wait to see what God put in my lap. Maybe I’d land back in Virginia, maybe America, maybe overseas. I felt confident in my decision to wait and see what happened and not go back to the classroom.
Things changed as I got an email about my old school having an opening. I’d go back to working with my old colleagues, whom I loved working with. My cousins, who are so important in my life, will be 6th graders in the fall. Health insurance, a salary, and a job I love. I felt this was God giving me back what I had given up. There was no guarantee when I left that the school would have an opening upon arriving home. Is this God telling me to go back to the classroom? I got super excited and asked people to help me pray for this decision. I interviewed with the principal and started talking like I was returning to work in August. The only down side of this job is the quick turn around: work starts 2 weeks after I get back to the States. I figured God would help me adjust quickly and I put my worries aside. After all, God was honoring my commitment to him. He was giving me back my old life. But is that the life that I want?
