When a series of coincidences leads to your divine destiny, it can turn your life upside down. In the past few months, God changed my life changed and stripped away my previous desires. I am afforded two choices: I could try to rationalize the events of the past 8 months as coincidence or I can accept them. I can accept that God was and continues to prepare me for something greater in life. What am I talking about, you may ask. I'll explain. This explanation will summarize the last year of my life; so brace yourselves it could be a long read. Here it goes:
Although an Missionary Kid by birth, I had no intentions to follow my parents' path in life. It wasn't that I didn't want to pursue a relationship with God and serve Him; I just thought I could do all of that here at home. Others could go to the nations and I would support them from here. That all changed. It started over winter break. I was home from school and at my home church, Life Center. After the service I went forward for prayer. I received a prophecy telling me something would change in the springtime. At that time, I had no idea what it meant and so I put it to the side.
Fast forward two months, I'm back at college and supposed to be looking for a job. Graduation is only two months away. I kept procrastinating and finding excuses not to look. My friends were all hearing back from jobs, internships, grad schools and I didn't even know what I wanted to do. Previously I had a plan: go to college, get a job in PR or publishing, get married, buy a house, have a family, and live my life. I wasn't going to sacrifice my life, family and career for missions. I wanted stability and normalcy, but I just didn't have peace or desire for any job opportunity. Nothing appealed to me, not even my dream jobs. During a job interview to work at a Christian summer camp, I was asked whether I preferred structured routine or unstructured. In my head I had the answer all ready. I was going to tell him how I preferred structured routine. It was the honest answer. But that's not what I told him. I opened my mouth and the words coming out weren't mine. I said I preferred unstructured and the freedom to be spontaneous and creative. My answer surprised me. I sat through the rest of the interview and promised to contact the camp if I decided to pursue the opportunity. From that moment, I felt restless. I couldn't explain my answer or the feeling of restlessness I felt afterward. That night I tried to shake it off, but I couldn't. I told my girlfriend about the interview and how I felt afterward. No one else knew. The next day at another church, a man spoke about a mission trip he was going on to Southeast Asia to rescue children from slavery. As he spoke, I felt the injustice and the cruelty of enslaving children. Let me stop you right there. This is not one of those aha moments where I decide to dedicate my life to rescuing children or going on that mission trip. If it was, I wouldn't be writing this blog. Instead it was the quiet, still voice I heard. I was raised on the stories of my parents hearing the call of God. This wasn't like that. It left just a gentle impression that one day I would work with children in an international ministry. For those who don't know me well, this might not seem to surprising. But something changed in me. Before that day, I would have never have considered going into missions.
In the weeks to follow, I tried to understand it. The feeling of restlessness was still there. Only in that moment had I glimpsed the reason behind the feeling. God didn't tell me all at once what He wanted me to do or where I was supposed to go. I decided to wait until I heard more or something felt right. Weeks went by. Graduation came and went. I returned home to my family for the summer. I didn't take that summer camp job. After being home for two weeks, I found a temporary job and waited. I received words from others about the adventure God had planned for me and how my next job would give me a true sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Weeks passed without any amazing opportunities from God.
And then it happened. I had decided to check out a small men's group one Friday night. It seemed unremarkable except for a conversation I heard. Someone mentioned the World Race and how it was hardcore because they slept on concrete and stuff. I thought I could do that and so the next morning I googled the World Race. The more I learned about it the more I excited I became. First, the World Race is run by the organization Adventures in Missions. The word adventure had come up again and again in the words I had received. I had extensive experience living abroad, traveling, fundraising, and backpacking. These were all things I would have to do on the Race. I still wanted conformation from God that I wasn't forcing it to happen. During the next week, God confirmed again and again. First, I mentioned it to my former youth pastor and he said he had just met someone who had gone on the Race a couple years back. He introduced me a few minutes later to the woman and it seemed to perfect to be a coincidence. She encouraged me to pursue it and continue to seek confirmation. Later that week I returned to the men's group and on a wall in front of me was a world map showing the World Race route of a couple from my church. Yet another moment where it seemed like God was saying, yes. I decided to follow Him. Two days later, I had filled out the application and I waited again until an interview was scheduled. I did the interview and this time I wasn't restless, not even for a moment. I felt peace and confidence. I can't take credit for any of these events. The money given thus far for my trip was from Him. The abilities and experiences I have are a gift from Him in preparation for the Race and so much more. This is His doing. Only He could turn a series of coincidences and a feeling of restlessness into the beginning of an adventure in missions, only Him.
