i don’t know if you’ve heard, but i’m going on the world race!
every time i think about the past 3 years and all the disappointments in my life and the repeated “no’s” from God, i’m blown away. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve asked Him, “why are you doing this?”, “what are you doing in my life?”, or “how long do i have to wait?”.
all of it has led me here, and now i understand.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
i have known for the past 3 years that i was in a “waiting period” and i’m not going to lie, it’s been tough. if you weren’t aware, i’m not a very patient person.
3 years ago is when the Lord started working behind the scenes in my life.
i was living in Greenville and had become debt free (this was my first blessing in disguise) and decided i wanted to buy a house. my first red flag should have been that i wasn’t happy with anything that i looked at. i looked for a year and a half before i finally found one that i loved in Taylors, so i made an offer. i was set to close on my new house the last week in November. other than buying a house at this point in time, i was also thinking about the fact that in February i was going to fall off of my parents insurance and had no clue how i was planning on paying for my own. (in hindsight, buying a house was a really dumb idea at the time) thankfully, God knew what He was doing. a week before closing on the house, something crazy had been overlooked on the sellers part and the house was pulled out from under me (second blessing). i was so disappointed but i knew that God had a better plan for me, even when i couldn’t see it at the time.
fast forward to January; my mom and i had been praying about a solution to my insurance issue for a while and i get a call from my boss saying that she had a managers position open for ME (third blessing). with FREE health insurance. an hour away from where that house in Taylors would have been! i started my new job as manager exactly 1 month from my 26th birthday, the day i was no longer eligible to be on my parents insurance. ya’ll, God is so GOOD!
now, fast forward a year to 2016. at this point i had had my cosmetology instructors license for 2 years and had been thinking about whether or not i was supposed to teach. if i’m being completely honest, i was mostly interested in a set schedule and summers off. i started looking into teaching jobs and applied for one, which didn’t work out. (fourth blessing) again, i kept asking God, “what is your plan for my life?”, “i know i’m meant for more, just show me what it is and i’ll jump in head first”. a year later, i applied for another teaching job, still unsure if that was what God really wanted for me. again, i was turned down (fifth blessing). in the process of applying for this specific job and waiting for an answer, God was showing me through my management job that teaching wasn’t what i was supposed to do.
keep in mind that i LOVE my job at Great Clips. i love my team, i love my bosses and i love our owners. how many people can say that? so i came to the conclusion that this is where i was supposed to stay. i had always known that if an area manager position became available in my company that i wanted it but that could be years away. remember how i said i wasn’t a very patient person? October 2017 came and a position opened up and i thought, “this is it!” so i applied and had my interview on December 4th and then i waited, and waited. for 3 weeks i had people convincing me that this job was mine and i believed it. it wasn’t. (sixth blessing) i felt defeated and i was starting to get mad at God.
want to hear something funny? as i sit here typing this, i am so incredibly grateful that God said “no” to all of those things! while all of these disappointments were happening in my life, God was working on my patience and my ability to trust Him through everything.
over the last 3 summers i have traveled to Nicaragua with my church working with women who have been rescued from sex slavery and a life of prostitution as well as children from extreme poverty and a life of sexual exploitation. God has slowly been working in my heart and filling me with a passion to serve “the least of these” and spread His love to all nations.
so when i mentioned to my beautiful friend, Haley that my dream would be to travel the world and do mission work, her response was, “why don’t you do the World Race?“. i had never heard of it but we googled it and i was immediately consumed with a desire to go. i spent the next 24 hours reading blogs of former racers, watching YouTube videos and crying. i was scared and the enemy knew it.
“you aren’t good enough to do this”
“you aren’t fit enough for a trip like that”
“you won’t be able to raise that much money”
but i am, i will be, and i can.
i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
Philippians 4:13
