I have less than 40 days left on the World Race.
I can’t wrap my mind around that one. I still have moments where this all seems slightly surreal. I have to remind myself that I’m halfway around the world from my home. Somedays I wake up and have a monologue that goes something like this, “Oh yeah, I’m in Asia. I’m on the World Race. I left home ten months ago.” You know, just a nice little reminder before I start the day.
I didn’t just end up here, in a heat wave in Chiang Mai, or in an African hut, or on an island serving refugees. The Lord spoke to me very clearly to lead me to this portion of my destiny. I want to share a part of my story with you as an encouragement. Because, if I can jump into the Lord’s will for my life, you can too.
I’d like to preface by saying that I. did. not. want. to. come.
Two years prior to the race, I was at college asking the Lord for direction for my life. I prayed Jeremiah 29:13 over and over. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” I was mostly asking the Lord to choose my college major, or job, or grad school. He had other plans.
Liberty posted an article about an alumna who was on this trip called the World Race. I followed the links to the WR website and my heart dropped. Immediately, my heart was, “No, Lord, no, no, no. That’s not something that I would/could ever do.” Then a tiny little prayer came from me that said, “If you want me to do this, you have to SHOW me.”
And that He did.
I went home one weekend and my mom was telling me that her high school best friend’s daughter was doing this thing called the World Race. My heart stopped again. I tried to chalk that one up to coincidence. I didn’t tell a soul about this. I knew that as soon as I said something, that would be the first step of me going.
This was the start of two years of daily signs, convictions, and confirmations. The Lord used the people around me to draw me closer to Him and eventually this trip. I’m a numbers kind of person, and I started seeing 11:11 everyday and everywhere. Time, license plates, phone numbers, addresses I needed to go to, word count in my syllabus, I couldn’t escape it. I thought something might happen on November 11th, so I waited, but it was a normal day. I felt in my spirit that the reasoning would be revealed to me in due time. Eventually, I was exploring the World Race website and then closed out of the browser. As the screen was going away, I saw a little icon in the top corner. “11n11.” Repeat heart drop. 11 Countries in 11 Months. Maybe this sounds crazy to you, and that’s ok, but it was very real to me.
I spent a summer praying intentionally about the trip. I would pray and then open my Bible and be immediately convicted. One day I told the Lord, “I could NEVER leave my family for 11 months. No way.” Then I read Matthew 10:
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
I just sat there speechless. Lord, we’re going to have to talk about this another day.
One week I told the Lord that I just plain did not want to go. Then I went to Wednesday night college group and my pastor taught on obeying the Lord and His plans even when you don’t want to. Internally, I’m throwing up my hands saying, ok that was for me.
I met another Christian when I was student teaching and our first conversation was about how he left everything and moved to Israel for three months. He just walked through an open door.
Those are just a few of the nudges that the Lord prompted me with over two years.
I had a lot of reasons for not wanting to come. Almost everything about the World Race is out of my comfort zone. I had never camped, packed 60-70 pounds of luggage let alone carry it, ate a hamburger (yes, really- I’m super picky), gone overseas, or lived 24/7 with strangers (it’s ok, they became family). I’m super introverted and I enjoy the comforts of America. I never had the desire to travel to the countries listed on my route.
The World Race has a quiz on its website called “Do you have what it takes?” I avoided that thing like the plague. I knew I didn’t have what it took and I didn’t need a website to confirm it.
BUT that’s the whole point of me being here. The Lord has given me His strength. I’m not the ideal candidate for this adventure. Not ideal at all. God doesn’t really have a track record for using ideal candidates. He wants to use the people who HAVE to depend on Him. There’s no way that you can look at me and say that I’m living this lifestyle in my own strength. The Lord is using me to glorify His name. My life points to Him. I know that the overarching reason for me coming on the World Race is for you. It’s for me to say that I jumped into the terrifying unknown and risked everything and gave up everything. And it’s for me to say, you can do it too.
I eventually had to become completely broken before I gave Jesus my “yes.” I was accepted to the Race a mere two weeks before training camp. I bought a plane ticket to Georgia the following week, unsure if I would have the required funds to go. He was nothing less than faithful throughout the fundraising. All He was asking was that I would completely trust Him. He provided for me in abundance, confirming all the way along that this was what He wanted me to do. I know that two years is a long time to hear from God and be that stubborn, but He knew it would take two years and He loved me through it.
I came on the Race out of obedience, and I stayed out of love. I traded my fears for His freedom. I left behind my own expectations and I stopped allowing other people’s expectations determine my decisions. This race has been the most challenging and rewarding year of my life. And I know that I would have regretted not going.
It could be very easy to forget the struggle and fight that it took for me to get here, to this place of abandonment and faith. I’m ten months into this trip and new normals were developed along the way. But I am choosing to remember. I am humbled and encouraged to look back and see how the Lord pieced together my puzzle. I couldn’t deny that He was talking to me and leading me the whole way. Those thoughts alone give me strength to embrace the challenges and adventures of this wonderful, crazy journey.
I’m not encouraging you to apply for a mission trip, I’m daring you to live a life that glorifies God.
“Everything is interim. Everything is a path or a preparation for the next thing, and we never know what the next thing is. Life is like that, of course, twisty and surprising. But life with God is like that exponentially. We can dig in, make plans, write in stone, pretend we’re not listening, but the voice of God has a way of being heard. It seeps in like smoke or vapor even when we’ve barred the door against any last-minute changes, and it moves us to different countries and different emotional territories and different ways of living. It keeps us moving and dancing and watching, and never lets us drop down into a life set on cruise control or a life ruled by remote control. Life with God is a daring dream, full of flashes and last-minute exits and generally all the things we’ve said we’ll never do. And with the surprises comes great hope.”
~Shauna Niequist
