The world race. What is it, why are you going, and how are you paying for it are words I hear almost everyday. I love sharing my story with others and inviting them into my life and my journey. The world race has been something that’s peaked my interest since sophomore year. Before we get to that let’s backtrack to the summer before freshman year. This is where I would like to think it all started…
God moved in my life in a way I never would have imagined, and this experience has taught me about his divine plan and absolute love that he has for me. I am very grateful that this happened to me the summer before I became a freshman in highschool. As commonly known, high school is a time to self search and discover who you are as a person. As an incoming freshman I was nervous to enter into a new chapter of life that I knew would present many challenges. I attended a christian discipleship summer camp at Hume Lake, Wildwood, with my youth group in the summer of 2014. I entered the week of camp struggling with my identity and questioning my purpose in life. Throughout the week we spent intentional time with the Lord daily through individual time to pray and read the word of God. In the middle of the week we had a worship night in place of our nightly sermon. I remember singing about God’s glory covering all of the nations when I suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion. That night Christ broke my heart for those around the world who did not know him and called me into the mission field. I was thankful that my deeper purpose in life (besides serving the Lord) was revealed to me. I have kept that found sense of compassion for others with me ever since that night. This passion has led me to venture on multiple missions overseas from which I have learned so much about the Lord. I was able to broaden my view of the world and my view of Christ. Throughout three years of high school, beginning with freshman year, I struggled with why God called me to missions so early on in my life if I could not participate in long term missions for at least four more years. There were numerous periods I experienced where my heart ached to simply get up from my monotonous lifestyle and go serve him across the world. I didn’t want to wait for the end of what seemed to be an unending cycle of school. It wasn’t until the summer before my senior year when I returned to the same camp that I gained some perspective as to why Christ moved my heart when he did. God purposefully allowed me to spend a period of my life agonizing over waiting for something that would inevitably happen, in order to teach me a lesson. Over the four year time span of highschool I was able to grow spiritually with the mindset of the mission field. In every trial I endured, lesson I learned, and knowledge I attained, I was able to experience it all with the mentality of missions. Through this I was able to grow not only as a person, but as a person focused on serving the Lord. I have found who I am and have become confident through Christ while knowing a direction of where his plan for my life will be. My understanding of how to humbly love and serve others has grown. My perspective on the bible and on ministry has transformed my view of God from great to unimaginably beautiful. This is a blessing beyond anything I could have imagined. I didn’t have the full perspective of what was happening while I was experiencing it. I learned that while I greatly wanted to understand God’s ways, he had a different plan. This new found understanding taught me to trust Christ’s plan because He is a loving God who unceasingly knows what’s best for me. Christ’s divine plan far exceeds anything I could imagine, and I am tremendously thankful.
Fastforward to now. I’m on my way to traveling alongside some amazing people for the purpose of expanding his kingdom. That’s a sentence I would have dreamed of writing three years ago, and now I can! God has been working in my life since the beginning and has been intentionally leading me along a path that includes the world race. If the world race is something of a dream to me now I can’t imagine what he has in store for my life in the future. The acceptance phone call I received from admissions has been such an unexpected reminder of how the Lord knows our heart and our desires. He has the absolute best interest for me, and his plan for my life is infinitely better than anything I could fathom. Next year is going to push me and challenge me in so many ways, but I’m sooo ready. I’m ready to get up and GO and to follow him with open hands!
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