As a senior in high school you are constantly asked the same questions, “where you going to college?”, “what are your plans for the future?”,”what are you going to study in college?”. These were all questions I did not know how to respond to, and I became stressed since some of my close pals seemed to have it all figured out. From the months of August to October, I had no idea who I wanted to be after high school, and the short time frame I had to figure it out made me feel lost.
On September 21st, I was scrolling through the explore page on Instagram and stumbled across someone who was currently on the World Race Gap Year and I was instantly intrigued.The World Race Gap Year is a 9 month mission trip across the globe with 55 others where your main goal is to spread God’s love. The idea of not going to college right after graduation was a very new (and scary) idea to me. I laid in my bed that night with my mind running everywhere and my heart beating 10x faster then normal. I prayed for guidance and clarity from God and a peace of mind about college and The World Race. The very next day my dad sat me down and asked me how I was feeling and said “have you ever considered a gap year”. BOOM- WHAT- LOOK AT GOD, I was honestly shocked. I then told him that I found this thing called The World Race the night before. That night, I became a World Race expert. I watched every video, read blogs and explored their website for hours.
After that, I was hooked. Hooked on the idea of traveling all over the world to spread God’s love and to teach people of his wonders. Hooked on the idea of breaking a social norm and not attending college right away. Hooked on the idea of making a impact around the world in order to serve God and grow further as a person. The World Race consumed my heart and has been ever since September 21st.
My journey on The World Race will begin September 2018, and my team is headed to Costa Rica, South Africa, Thailand and Myanmar!!! While the thought of being away from family, friends and civilization is a new and terrifying concept, it also makes me realize that His plans are greater than any plan I could ever conceive. Psalms 32:8- “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” God Himself is teaching us what we should do. He promises to show us the path we should take. He’s watching over all of us and giving us advice every step of the way, even if we don’t realize it until 3 months later. The best part of the trip is I’m doing it to serve the Lord as well as the people I will meet along the way. I am beyond excited and hope you are imagining me jumping up and down giving you a hug, because if we were face to face-i would be doing exactly that:)
God is my light. He is my refuge in times of trouble and in times of worry. God is for us, he constantly choses us. I’ve seen the light in my church, in my parents over the past 17 years of my life, in my mentors, and friends. I want to be a light through the nations. To love without borders and to show people how much God loves each and everyone of us. I want to show people compassion and love, and full life, just like I’ve been shown throughout my life.
Sure, I’m going to miss my family and friends. I’m going to miss my dog and opening up my back door to have her sitting there running in circles like she hasn’t seen me in 9 months;) I’m going to miss out on running down the stairs Christmas morning with my cousins to see what Santa brought us this year. I’m going to miss out on going to college with my friends and experiencing freshman year with them, but the thing is, it will all be here when I get back. Life for me after high school may look very different than most, but that’s who I am- different than most. We are all uniquely different. God has opened this door for me and I am going to walk through it with an open mind and an open heart, but I’m choosing to trust Him through it all.
THANK YOU for taking the time out of your day to read this and get to know a little about my journey with The World Race! If you would like to be a part of my journey, you can keep up with my social media & my blog by clicking the little subscribe button @ the top left hand side of the page! I humbly am asking for your prayers more than anything. Please keep my team and myself in your prayers as we prepare for our trip. After prayer, if you would like to contribute more to my journey, you can always donate. I have to raise a whopping $15,800 so anything helps (even if it is $1- nothing is too small)! If you have any questions or just wanna talk feel free to contact me~I will happily answer any questions!! Thank you, thank you, thhaannkk youuu!!!
Make today count.
~xoxo, Helen
