One question that I get every time I tell people that I’m going on the world race is why. Why are you giving up 9 months of your life, why are you leaving your family for 9 months, why are you not going to college straight out of high school… Well I would love to explain to every single person that I come in contact with my in-depth story of how God called me to missions, but since that would take a bazillion hours I’m going to explain it to you here. right now. {sorry this is probably going to be realllllly long}
So I was 13 years old. I was at White Mills Christian Camp the summer after my 7th grade year of middle school. I was at camp because I loved the worship, being challenged in my faith, and spending a week with some of the best people I have ever met– but little did I know, God was going to do even bigger things in my heart that week.
To be completely honest, I don’t remember too much about that week except for the fact that the theme was Exodus and that we played some pretty cool games. But I do vividly remember that Thursday night before we left. I felt God speak to me so clearly, in a way that I had never experienced before. I felt like God personally came up to me and said “I created you with a purpose– to do things so much bigger than yourself.” I felt a such a strong longing on my heart for the nations and God’s people. God broke me and told me that He was going to use me for His kingdom as long as I said yes.
That night during youth group time I shared that I felt like God was calling me to missions. I’m sure that everyone in the room thought that I was just on a ‘Jesus high’ and that this ‘calling’ would go away. Or maybe that I was sharing this so that I could get attention. But in all honesty I was scared and unsure. Such a big thing was placed on the shoulders of someone so young. I felt that I wasn’t old enough to feel called to anything and I thought that maybe I was making this up in my head and God wasn’t really speaking to me. But now that I am looking back, I know that God was speaking to that 13 year old girl and telling her to hold His hand because He’s got this.
I went home from that week of camp with the thought of missions securely tucked away in my heart and I never wanted to let it go, even though I’m pretty sure I didn’t have any idea what it would take except for the fact that I would live elsewhere and proclaim the gospel with all of my being.
So a few years went by and I had a deep longing to go overseas on a mission trip {I had never even been on one but I had confidence that I would love it.} So a few opportunities popped up, but I was never old enough to go on any of them. Finally on spring break of 2012 I went on my first mission trip to Costa Rica. During that week I felt a sense of peace overwhelm me like a flood and I just knew that this is what God created me to do. To be honest with you it is extremely difficult to put my feelings and passion about missions into words. Our God is so big and so great that I shouldn’t be able to put His awesomeness into words because that would be limiting His greatness.
Sometimes {most of the time} people would look at me like crazy when I would tell them that I wanted to be a missionary when I got older. I tried to remain strong and rooted in Christ but life began to get tough. I was in high school and I got caught up in pursuing the American Dream of getting good grades so that ultimately I can get a great job and make a ton of money. I began to doubt missions and I just thought ‘oh someone else can do that.’
I read this book called Kisses From Katie {this book is a great read and I highly recommend it!} and I firmly believe that God used this book to tell me that I can trust God no matter how big the obstacle may seem. In the book a teenage girl moves to Africa and she falls in love with the people and we are told the story of how God provides for her {there is a lot more but way too much for me to explain here, so you should go read it :)}. This is the book that planted to seed for me to take a gap year straight out of high school.
For about 2 years I prayed and prayed that God would place an opportunity in my path. I knew that God wanted me to take a year off school and travel the world and serve his people, I just didn’t know how. And one day I heard about the world race from one of my friends and I thought that I would check it out. I soon realized that you had to be 22 to go on the world race {11 countries in 11 months}, but before I could get my hopes up God placed another opportunity in my path: the world race gap year{3 countries in 9 months} and this trip was for 18-22 year olds! I just felt such an indescribable peace about this trip and I knew that this is where God wanted me to be.
Before I could apply, I began to have doubts and thought that maybe college would be the best route for me. But God just kept putting people and opportunities in my path that all lead me back to the same conclusion: take a gap year and listen to what He has to say to me. I have learned that God can use anyone– it doesn’t matter how broken you are or what you have done. God’s grace is greater than anything that clogs our past! God just wants us to come as we are. All we have to do it say yes and be willing to go! God may call us to serve in our high schools or at work or he may even call some of us to go to a whole new country. But the cool thing is that no matter what we do {whether it be investing in someone who needs a friend or going on a mission trip}, as long as we are serving the Lord, I know that God is looking down on us smiling. His love for us is so great!!!
But I still prayed and prayed and explored many other options and I never found anything that jumped off the computer screen at me like the world race did. So in October of this year I decided to apply for the world race gap year and here I am about a month later, accepted to the trip and blogging about how thrilled I am to go on this trip! I know that everything God has put in my path thus far has equipped me to go on this journey and I know that God will continue to equip me for the rest of my life because there is always more for me to learn and experience.
One verse that has really stuck out to me over the past 2 years is Isaiah 6:8 “then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ and I said ‘here I am, send me.'” I really love this verse because it really describes the nature of serving: God will use whoever is willing. Later in the chapter, we also read that this journey won’t be easy. I know that my journey on the world race won’t be all roses and cupcakes, but I do know that God has great things planned. I am going to encounter hardships, but I know that my God is bigger than those hardships and when I trust Him I will soar on this journey because my trust is rooted in my sweet savior Jesus. <3
Just a few more things {if you made it this far}. You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the follow me tab on the top left or the follow me box in the bottom right! I can’t tell you enough how thankful I am to have all of your support. Thanks for all the prayers and the endless kind words: you guys are truly lights of God’s love shining on my life and the lives of those around you. 🙂
