When I first heard about the World Race it sounded amazing! It was everything I loved – traveling, authentic community, an opportunity to grow in my relationship with Christ like never before, new friendships, new cultures, life on the road, roughing-it, and a real, exciting challenge.
I knew it was what God had in store for me next, an answered prayer.
So I committed. I started preparing. I was excited and eager.
But then I graduated from college, things started to slow down, and my fears took root and took over. The race was no longer just the exciting, post college plan, but a real and scary reality.
The dangers of travel and disease made me overwhelmingly anxious.
I started having to say too many goodbyes and realizing all the events I would miss while I was away – so many weddings, birthdays, reunions, celebrations, precious time with family and friends
I started to doubt that the race was the right next step. I started to doubt whether I heard God correctly.
But fear is not from God.
“Such love has no fear, because love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” – 1 John 4:18
I cannot allow my decision to be controlled by fear because fear is not truth, rather it reveals a lack of truth.
Truth tells us that love is the root of all good things.
God called me to the World Race to love, and that alone is stronger than any of my fears.
It’s easy to stay in our comfort zone, to stay surrounded by what and who we know. That’s where we feel safe. But God calls us out of our comfort zones because that’s where we grow, that’s where He shows us more than we could ever imagine. Gradually, this new space becomes a part of our comfort zone and we are able to step out even farther.
I’m grateful that the World Race will serve as my new space come January. I don’t know what to expect, but if God is calling me there I know it will be good. I know that He will work in me and through me.
Believing this does not eliminate all my fear, and I know that I will continue to have fears on the race. I know I’ll have to keep reminding myself that fear is not from God. I’ll miss the many comforts of home and at times and I’ll wonder if it’s all worth it. But deep down I know it is. I know that leaving what I know to follow a call to go and love the world like Christ loved the world, is completely and totally worth it.
