Several people have asked me when and how did you make the decision to go on the World Race? Well about 2 months ago we started this series at church called A Thousand Words. We discussed Peace, Freedom, Obedience, Reconciliation, and Family.
When this series started I had been praying hard about the World Race and everything that it entailed. I felt called to be apart of it but overwhelmed by it’s vastness and having to leave my family, and everything I’ve known, for such a long period of time. So I kept praying and asking God if this was something I was really supposed to do and if He was sure could I maybe get a sign. Of course what I didn’t realize at the time was that I was no longer asking but now questioning what He called me to do instead.
So then week 3 of the series came along: A Picture of Obedience. As I sat listening to the sermon I felt as though it was directed completely toward me, like it was written for me. The pastor talked about the faithfulness of Jesus and being obedient to our unexpected calls. (Boy was that hitting the nail on the head!)
As the sermon progressed I got this overwhelming sense of peace and awe that just washed over me, to the point of tears. I heard God telling me that it was time for me to be obedient and faithful to what He had asked me to do. That I could only ask the same question and get the same answer so many times without responding. The pastor then read Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” This completely blew me away!
It was in that moment, that wonderfully intimate moment, that I broke down and I knew that I could no longer let the fear of change and the unknown hold me back. It was in that moment that I gave God control and decided to be obedient. That night I praised Jesus for his unfailing love and grace and applied for the World Race! Woo Hoo!
Since then I’ve started to understand, or more so come to terms with, the fact that we only see a piece of the picture that God has created for us and that He sees it in completion. Like Ephesians 2:20 says “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” He has created a unique story for each and every one of us in which only He knows the ending. So we need to take that leap and answer those unexpected calls because, although it can be scary, in doing so we open the door to something significantly better that we may not even realize yet.
I think Pastor Becca put it beautifully, she said that “We must stop looking at it with the lens of our own expectation but rather through the kingdoms lens.”
