Hello there, Loved Ones! Welcome to my first blog :). i just wanted to say a quick, but sincere thank-you to all of you have shown me more love and support than i could have ever hoped for already, and my hope is that you will continue to partner with me over the coming months. Also, don’t forget about my yard sale on 8/22/20. For more info about what time and where, check out my Facebook page (Mary G. Owens). i would absolutely love to see you there, even if you just want to drop by and say hi!
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So, where do i start? Though, it would normally make sense to go back a couple months to when i first started considering Gap Year, logically i know that there is no way something this big could only have begun a couple months ago. So, instead, let’s go back to kindergarten.
Mrs. Kline, my teacher, was the first, that i can remember, Christian influence present in my daily life (outside of my church-going family, i suppose). i absolutely loved her and greatly admired the beauty of her faith. Looking back, i still do. She was the reason that i volunteered to pray in class. She was the reason i lifted my hands in chapel. She was the reason i was baptized. She was the reason, after being asked the typical question, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”, i, with the innocent enthusiasm characteristic of a child, responded without missing a beat – “Be a missionary!”
Years later, in about fifth or sixth grade, after having moved to a new state, i found myself in a new church and old enough to attend a youth group. That was how i met Amy, my youth leader. Amy was the first person to introduce me to the whole concept of the World Race as she began to fundraise for the 11n11, and oh, how i admired her for it! Her spiritual strength and trust in the Lord throughout her whole journey were some of the most beautiful examples that i have ever had the privilege to know. Hearing her talk of everything she would be doing, even training camp alone… well, i didn’t think that i would ever be able to do a thing like that (and i know that i still can’t; by God’s grace alone have i even gotten to where i am now), especially not with my knee issues which were only growing steadily worse at the time .
Now, i admit, the foundations weren’t quite right. Maybe i was putting too much weight on being like my teacher or being like my youth leader and not enough on the Lord, but that isn’t the point. The point is the seed that was planted there (by the Lord, through these people in my childhood). A seed that for years i had given up on as a dud, but that, in truth, was merely dormant, frozen in the midst of my numbness, eagerly awaiting the warmth of the Lord. (Don’t take this the wrong way in thinking that the Lord wasn’t there for those years. He most certainly was. Every opportunity He had, He was gently pulling me away from the darkness in which i had found myself, waking me up little by little, even if i was unaware that it was Him at the time. It was never His absence; it was my inability [or possibly unwillingness] to perceive His Presence.)
One hot summer morning, the morning after my 17th birthday to be exact, i was sitting on the back patio with a warm black coffee in my hand and my Bible spread out in front of me. That whole previous school year, none of my plans for college had felt quite right, and i had frequently been left grasping at straws every time someone asked me what my plans were for after high school (i suppose the next question will be,” So what are your plans for after Gap Year?”, haha). I knew at this point that i wanted to do something for the Lord, but i couldn’t quite figure out exactly what that was, and up until then, i always thought it would involve college right after high school. But then, sitting there in the peaceful quiet, i remembered Amy. i remembered Mrs. Kline.
I closed my Bible and looked up the World Race website, along with everything the racers would have to do. I then turned my gaze downward at the scars marring my legs… then, by God’s willpower alone (for i truly have none of my own) i stood up, laced up my Chucks (no, i did not have any running shoes at the time; yes, it was kind of miserable, haha), and went out for a run. A real run. No braces, no sports tape. For the first time in i couldn’t tell you how long. The rest, as they say, is history.
The point is – none of this was my plan. There’s no way it could have been. There have been countless events and people throughout my life leading me to this decision, and i have only named a very few. Who could have planned something like this but God (especially for someone such as the likes of me)? i never intended for this to happen, but the Lord had it worked out from the beginning. i had absolutely nothing to do with it. Just because i was blessed enough to be a participant by no means entails that i was in any way the Orchestrator. Therefore,
To Him be all the glory!
With All Love and Sincerity,
Mary
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 19:21
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