I
want to start by saying that my decision to accept this call isn’t something
that I just decided to do when I woke up one day. I contemplated it for months.
I prayed much and listened for God’s voice. It wasn’t an easy decision, but in
retrospect. I grew so much closer to God along the way. I’m not going to sugar
coat it, so here it goes:
June 24rd 2010…
è
Ali
from my Bible study group sends us a link to her friend’s blog. Her friend Kyle
Johnson requested that we pray for his team and they do mission work aroundthe
world.
è
I
don’t open the email for a few weeks, but when I finally do open it, I am so concerned
about keeping to my busy schedule that I just end up deleting it and moving on.
Added to prayer list…check!…pray…check!…delete.
July 24th 2010…
è
One
of the girls from my Bible study group, Tye, announces that she has signed up
to do the same trip we read about in Kyle’s blog.
è
She
asks for financial support. My gut reaction is…as much as I’d like to help, I’m
a bit jealous that she has such a flexible job that she could just leave her
job and travel the world for awhile while I sit at my desk from 9 to 5 answering
phones & make sales calls so I can pay the mortgage. I struggle with the
fact that Tye is blessed with such an opportunity.
è
Tye
is persistent about asking for donations and she talks about it all the time. I
get annoyed (sorry, Tye…it was just a phase and a manifestation of restlessness
turned to envy…you know how far I’ve come!).
August 24th
2010…
è
Tuesday
night Bible study, as usual. We get to the part where we share prayer requests.
Since I had just “celebrated” the 5-year anniversary of my insurance career, I
just feel like I’m spinning but going nowhere. My life was changing around me
& all I wanted to get closer with God. I Corinthians 7:32 says single folks
like myself ought to live free of complications and focus on pleasing the Lord.
That’s exactly what I wanted and asked for prayer for…to keep my focus on this
and nothing else! I wasn’t sure if I was going to open up my own insurance
agency and I’d wrestled with that idea for several years. Something about that
idea just never settled with me. I was restless.
è
Tye
& Rachel (her sister, who is now also going on the race – Love you Tye
& Rachel!) sense my discontentment and ask what it is that I am passionate
about. I’d actually been thinking about this just a few days prior, so I rattle
off the list I’d come up with: Fitness, Food, Finances, Film & of course my
Faith (the alliteration is dorky, I know, but this is the list I came up with
and could remember easily J). Tye said those are all things that I
could do on the World Race.
è
I
make excuses for all the reasons I can’t do this
è
I
leave that evening and go home and pray. I prayed and prayed and prayed.
è
God
starts to reveal all the reasons why I should go and minimizes the two main reasons
why I think I can’t – my job & my house. I realized I was choosing to work
and live the “American Dream” and finally realized how freeing it could be to
let go of this.
è
I
pray over this for about a month and start devising a plan for what I would
need to do if this could actually become a reality.
è
The
pieces start to fall together and the Lord is sending signs like crazy that
this is something I need to act on.
September 24th
2010…
è
After
much prayer and deliberation, I’m accepted to the World Race!
Octoberber 24th
2010…
è
I
return from World Race training camp. Wow. I am forever changed! My World Race
has already begun…
However,
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and
complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the
gospel of God’s grace. Acts 20:24
