God used my trip to India this past summer to turn my life upside down. After five weeks of romping around the country in beautiful saris, trying to ingest as much of the culture as possible, I returned back to the United States changed. Despite the bleak outlook of the deep, systemic poverty I saw everyday, I struggled to wrap my mind around the immense beauty and joy amidst the chaos of the seemingly hopeless. So many people told me before my departure that India was the most God-less place in the world and yet, here I was seeing Him so clearly in the people we were privileged to meet and interact with. I left India confused and with a newfound desire to continue to see how God was working around the world.
I have never been a fan of mission work or missionaries but God quickly began to change my heart upon my return to the states and test the false narratives that I had concocted over the years. After months of fighting the inevitable, it took a four-hour coffee date with a close friend to finally surrender all my “practical” plans and truly listen to God’s promptings to go and learn from the people of the nations.
Enter the World Race, one of the programs suggested by my friend that afternoon. There isn’t a more perfect program that allows for the growth and challenge that God has been calling me towards.
I want to see and experience the power of prayer. I want it to become a way of life, not just a last resort. I want to learn about our creator and heavenly father, whose goodness drenches this earth. I want to rely on Christ fully and in everything, trusting him and his plan, not just in the words I speak but in how I live my life. I want to learn more about the Holy Spirit and how to discern his promptings. I want to experience his power and authority and see it transform lives.
I want to grow, be stretched, challenged, changed. I want to see the goodness of the Lord in all the nations, to learn about Him, and participate in what He is doing.
I am excited and I am terrified. Some days I think I am crazy and being ridiculous to think that God is calling me to this. I am 22 years old with a bachelor’s degree and have no useful skill set. But every time I entertain these thoughts, God is quick to show me, yet again, that this is exactly where He wants me. And there is no place I would rather be.
So I invite you to join me on this crazy adventure of trusting the Lord and being wrecked by a love so radical that it is beyond our comprehension.
