So how on earth did I end up on this crazy journey?!
Missions had always been something I was curious about, probably in large part due to my love of travel, but was never something I seriously pursued. I came across the World Race a year ago but for a number of reasons I figured it wasn’t for me. The biggest reason was it was too late to go last summer and I was supposed to be headed to Africa for a personal 7 week trip this summer and as such would not be able to go to training camp which would mean pushing it back yet another year till I was 32 years old (making me feel like that would be too old). So I pushed it from my mind.
This past October I was at a weekend missions conference and I felt God telling me my time was now! Again I was full of excuses, with number one being again being my upcoming trip to Africa. Africa was not something I took lightly. My best friend and I had been planning this trip since 2006! But I couldn’t shake the feeling that now was my time. So like all good Christians I made a deal with God. All was looking good for me and my best friend’s trip to Africa and as a back up I had someone else who was serious about going with me if my best friend couldn’t. And even though I was fully prepared to go alone I told God “make it so these other people can’t go with me and I will give this year to you and go on this mission.” And sure enough God worked it so that neither could go and so the ball was back in my court and it was up to me if I was going to keep up my end of the deal. I had been working on listening to God for awhile and figured this was time to prove myself and walk the talk.
Even with all this, deciding on the World Race was not the easy decision. I was conscious of my own love for travel and I knew that if I was going to go on a mission trip and devote that time to my relationship with God that it needed to be for the right reasons. I spent many weeks praying, talking to others, and investigating many different mission trips and discipleship schools, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was suppose to do the World Race. Then I was reminded of Psalm 37:4 Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart and with that I felt peace about going on the Race.
So here we are; 6 months out from heading on the adventure of a lifetime. Yes I am still excited to travel and see the world but I am equally excited to see what God has in store for me.
