“There are two great days in a person’s life: The day we are born and the day we discover why.” Better yet the day we start living it out.
Since I was a teenager, I have always had this deeper desire to help others. My heart always hurt too deeply when commercials would come on about children who were sick; or when they would hold school assemblies about the children in Africa who were being taken as child soldiers. The deepest parts of my soul cried for them, and I wanted to help. Yet, I remained too clouded by my own insecurities and thoughts of incapabilities to think that I could ever do something that big.
At this point of life, my relationship with God was depleted at best. I didn’t value who I was created to be, and that God had a much greater purpose than I wanted to accept. I was lost, hurting, broken, and desperate to find my way.
I spent my late teens and early 20’s trying to figure out who I was, how to become my “best self”, and how to do it all on my own. This obviously wasn’t going well for me. BUT THEN God…probably one of my favorite statements of truth that I rest my life on. BUT THEN God was there when I needed Him most. He was there ready to show me the truth of who He really is, what I mean to Him as a daughter, and what purpose He had already laid out in front of me.
God came in and set me free of all my past hurts. He brought me hope when I was desperately in need of it. He took my story that I had so neatly planned out, and rewrote it for the good of His Kingdom. The day that I accepted Jesus and made that decision to give over my life fully to Him was one of the greatest days of my life. And for the past few years I have been on such a wonderful and beautiful journey of growing in a true relationship with God.
When I left my internship in March, I was seeking and praying for God to give me that next thing that was going to bring me to the point of truly living out His word. I wanted this next journey to be one of growth that would challenge me with my relationship with God; and what it means to deeply and passionately love God and others.
The World Race came across my mind through a friend who had been on the race herself. Immediately I went to the website and to the different routes to pray over them. I was filled with instant joy, excitement, and peace from God about applying. He reminded me in this moment that those desires that were placed in me as a teen were not misguided. He showed me that I can take this year of my life to serve and love others. To make disciples in every nation. To recklessly abandon this life of comfort and conformity so that I can open myself up to a life with Jesus that is new, unchanging, and free.
These days ahead of me are me starting to live it out. To live out the desires God has placed in my heart. To live out days of me faithfully following the beautifully crafted plan God has laid out. For living out the days ahead with arms wide open to embrace every new adventure and moment God will reveal Himself through. I have discovered the why, now it’s time to start living them out.
