It started with a picture.
Yep, a picture! A very beautiful black and white picture with a couple under a bright red umbrella… 2 ½ years ago!
You’re probably confused and at first, I guess I was a little bit, too. But, the story goes a little somethin’ like this:
So, I had just moved back to the States from studying abroad in Australia for 6 months (where I had also realized I needed Jesus back in my life for GOOD at good ol’ Hillsong Church!). Needless to say, I had just discovered my undeniable passion to travel, too! I was on a website called StumbleUpon (the outdated version of Pinterest…sort of!) and came across the picture described above and thought, “What a cool picture! I want to see what website it’s from!” So, I “right-clicked” the picture like a computer nerd would, and figured out it was from “some blog from some girl on some mission’s trip called the World Race or something like that.” It was then when I started clicking around that I thought,
“WOW! 11 countries in 11 months?! That is SO COOL, but these people are SO INSANE! I would NEVER do something like that.”
I’m pretty sure God was laughing at me in that very moment.
Time went on and I graduated from college with my Bachelor’s degree and decided to go straight through for my Master’s degree in Social Work. Once I started my second year of the program, I started to realize that I needed to start thinking about what I was going to do when I graduated. Move to Seattle and try to get a job working with victims of human trafficking? Eh, I don’t know if I could handle the rain. Maybe I’ll just stay in Phoenix? Eh, I really need a change. Maybe I’ll join AmeriCorp? Not feelin’ it. I sorted through disastrous amounts of options, even some in other countries, but none of them seemed to stir up passion inside of me like the World Race did. Every time I looked at the website, I could feel myself lose my breath and get so excited. But boy, oh boy, did I fight with God.
“Seriously?! You want ME to do THAT?! Live off of $3 a day! HA! No way! I could never do that. And I know that’s not what you want ME to do. Way too much money and look, I am finishing my degree in Social Work. I need to grow up and get a REAL job, c’mon now. Besides, I could never leave all of my family and friends, not uh, no way, no how!”
Well…I prayed. And prayed some more. And even more. And asked others to pray for me. I prayed for guidance, clarity and direction. I prayed for God to close doors because there were WAY too many opportunities at hand. On and on…and then…it happened. The third route of September 2012 got posted. Not only did it have Australia (one of my most FAVORITE places on Earth!), but it had India and Nepal, which I was told two weeks prior that I absolutely needed to visit PRONTO because it would break my heart. It was then in that very moment that I knew my battle with God was over.
“FINE, I surrender. I’ll apply, geez. But if I don’t get accepted then I know I wasn’t supposed to do this.”
Umm…but I did get accepted. And now, HERE I AM! And I have never been so sure about anything in my life. I am so thankful that God kept pushing me and seeking me out no matter HOW I felt about what He was calling me to do. Wow, and words cannot express how irrefutably GRATEFUL I am for such an amazing opportunity to share the love of Jesus with others and reach out to a broken and hurting world. This is absolutely, with no doubt in my mind, where God has called me to for the next season of my life.
And let me tell you…when you ask God to break your heart and use you for NOTHING but His purpose, you better be careful! Because He WILL answer that prayer, oh yes He will!!!
