You dreamed of the World Race when you were eight!? Not exactly. But, in a way, yes.
When I was eight, God called me to missions. And from then on my dream was to “go into all the World and make disciples.”
I didn’t know how I’d ever be a “missionary,” where I’d go, or what I’d do really, but I knew that that is what I’d be.
I was going to be a missionary.
That’s what God told me at family camp the summer I turned nine.
And it was an exciting thing. I couldn’t wait to get out, to travel and help people, to “make disciples” like Jesus asked us to do.
It wasn’t until more recently that the gravity of being a missionary has hit me.
I’ve spent two summers away, one in Nicaragua and one in Guatemala, but they were only for a few months. A single season of being gone. They definitely were impactful times, but still, they were only two months each.
Now, I will be leaving for almost a year. That’s more than just a season. It’s a whole year! And to be honest, the commitment of it scares me a little bit.
I constantly think about how much I’m going to miss Friday night pizza nights with my best friend. Or playing with my nephews, hanging out with my brother, and even cooking with my mom. I constantly think about how things could be changed when I come back. How I could be changed.
And yet, despite these fears and the worry that I’m not going to get everything done before I leave, I know that it is right for me to go.
I need to do this.
The World Race is the next step on the path God is guiding me on. And I want to walk with boldness and courage on that path.
Whenever I doubt that I should be going, I’m brought back to a time during high school when God showed me something I could never forget.
Sometime during the week before a Sunday morning service, my church had hung flags all around our sanctuary. Flags from just about every country lined the four walls. But when I walked into church that morning, I must have been distracted because I didn’t notice any of them.
During worship, I decided to sit down and pray. And as I sat there, I heard God say something. He told me to “look up.” That was it. Just a simple “look up.”
After a few minutes of His pestering me to follow this strange request, I finally did open my eyes and looked up. And that’s when I noticed all the flags! And its not just that there were flags there, but what God told me while I stood mesmerized by them.
He told me that that is where I’d go. That I’d go with His love to the nations. That he hadn’t forgotten about what He told me when I was eight.
And so through a strange series of events, like me finding Adventures in Missions on Google, and then going on a summer trip in college, then leading a trip, co-leading with someone who had done the World Race, and just praying and thinking through this trip, God has told me to GO.
All in His name and for His glory, I will GO.
Here’s to an exciting year.
