When I was in high school, I had it rough. I moved schools my 8th grade year and it was hard for me to make friends because by 8th grade, everyone already knew each other and no one wanted a new friend. Throughout the school year, I slowly started making friends, but I was still shy. Now if any of you really know me, I can get anxious when meeting new people, but once we become close, I am not shy at all! haha When I got into 9th grade, I have a good group of friends that I was comfortable with. 9th grade was great, but 10th grade? Now that’s a different story. The year started out just fine, but things with my health started to change. In 6th grade I was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst right in the middle of my brain. I was having headaches everyday. When I say everyday, I don’t mean I got weekends off to have fun, no, everyday. They were terrible. My doctors tried different medicines, therapy, meditation, exercising, yoga, all of the above and nothing worked. In 10th grade they finally decided to do surgery to go cut a hole in it to drain. So, in the middle of my school year, November 19th, 2012, I had brain surgery. Recovering was a difficult but manageable process, I got back into school and had so much make up work to do, I thought I would never catch up. I eventually did and was back on track with the rest of my class mates. Now I’m thinking, “Finally, that’s over with, I can be a regular teen again.” Then in July of 2013 I started having headaches again. I didn’t want to believe it so I kept that fact to myself for a while. It was hard because there would be times where people ask me if I was okay and I didn’t want to tell them the truth…so I lied. I said I was fine and I was just tired. Eventually I told my parents that they had come back and I had another appointment with my neurologist. Then the process stared back again. More MRI’s, more trial medicines, more “stop making this up for attention.” It was really hard when you were having severe headaches and people actually thought I was doing this for attention. Anyways, my second surgery was scheduled for December 20th, 2013 and then the process stared again. After my surgery, doing school was hard. I didn’t understand what was going on or how to do most of the problems they had already taught. I started getting really depressed. I didn’t want to talk to anyone or be with anyone, but at the same time, I didn’t want to be alone. I was in a hard place. I finally started to be social again and started going back to school and church. I was still living in a fog though. I was just going through the motions and living life just making it by. One day at church in youth group, my youth pastor, Shane, proposed the idea of taking a small group to the Philippines. I don’t know what about that made me want to go, but I knew that I was going to be going on this mission trip. We had the first couple meetings and then the price came out, $3,500 and $3,800 if you wanted to take the weekend trip to the orphanage. Now if you know anything about me, I love kids and babies. If there’s a baby in the room, you’ll see me holding it the next time you turn around. So, I was determined to raise the $3,800. The deadlines came and went and I started meeting them, but then the final deadline. I was very close to $3,500 the night before the final deadline and my parents agreed to donate the rest to get me to the $3,500 goal. It was a Wednesday and the deadline was Thursday. I was at church sort of upset that I wasn’t going to be able to go to the orphanage, but accepted that it was God’s plan. Then, out of no where, a Sunday school teacher for the mandarin guys class came up to me and said “my dads Sunday school class has been raising money for your trip” and you know what he gave me? $300. WOW! I was so amazed I didn’t even know what to do! I was so happy and thankful. When you give it to God and let Him be in control, He does amazing things like providing the money you needed to get to the orphanage. I went on the trip and had an amazing time going to schools and sharing the gospel in classrooms and going to the orphanage was just an amazing experience. I came home refreshed and happy again. It was during that trip and my trip to Haiti that I realized God was calling me to missions. It’s a scary thing knowing that God calls you to something that’s unpredictable and to go out to the ends of the Earth, but let me tell you, going out to share the love of
Christ is the most amazing thing. Seeing God transform lives right in front of your eyes. Then I entered my senior year happy, headache free, and alive. I did well in most of my classes and passed! I PASSED HIGH SCHOOL!!! I never thought I could do it, but I did! Now, as I begin this journey of The World Race Gap Year I have a lot of different emotions. I am excited, scared, happy, nervous, hopeful, and so many more emotions I can’t even describe. I know that God will provide for this trip just like He did with the $300. It may come in the night before or it may come in tomorrow, I don’t know, but I am trusting God and His will for my life. Here are a few verses that got me through hard times and good times.
Psalm 56:11 In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Isaiah 41:10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
1 Corinthians 9:22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.
