In December I will be graduating college, and as that time draws near, the more people I see the more I hear this question: “What are you going to do once you graduate?”
My response is not the one that they expect.
“Oh I will be going on the World Race in August of 2016.”
For those curious I receive more questions.
“What is that?”
“Where do you go?”
“What do you do?”
“The one question I don’t hear, I feel is one they don’t know if they should ask.
“Why?”
The World Race is an incredible journey. I will be able to go to 11 different countries, a new country each month, for a total of 11 months. It’s not a journey to sightsee but a journey to invest. To work with the poor, to work with those that feel unwanted and unloved. It’s a journey of sleeping in tents, building homes or churches, loving on orphans, ministering to those in red light districts. But most importantly it is to share the love of Jesus with the world. Those who are reached and unreached. It’s a journey outside of my comfort zone.
So why not ask why?
Because more often than not it can lead to more questions.
Most people who know me know that I went to India about 3 years ago for 4 months and I have loved missions and have desired to go back out of the country ever since. Jesus laid this trip on my heart while I was in India courtesy of one of my leaders. It intrigued me, and when I came back to the States I looked into it. It sounded amazing.
It also scared me to think about it.
11 months is longer than 4. You miss holidays, birthdays, and other events. It’s putting your life on hold and hoping that you can find a job when you come back. It’s not guaranteeing safety everywhere you go. And it is far from easy work.
But Jesus doesn’t call us to a safe life. He calls us to live a life of faith and total surrender to Him.
That question of why, the one that doesn’t always get asked, has a question underneath it.
Why are you doing this?
For Jesus?
But why?
In Colossians it says “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith…”
So why?
Because of His death and resurrection, because I accepted that never ending unmatched love and grace that covered all my sin, I live this life knowing that I am His. I know that I am the daughter of a King who walks before me, fights my battles, and holds me through the highs and lows of this life. I am safe. I am secure. I am His.
So, why not?
Why wouldn’t I want to share this beautiful precious gift with the world?
As His daughter I am called to walk in Him, and He is calling me to go out and be His hands and feets once again.
In Romans it talks about those who don’t know Jesus and it says
“But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about them? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?”
That last question I can answer.
“Here I am Lord, send me.”
In under 11 months I will be leaving this country and my comfort zone to share Jesus, however that may look.
I will be going to Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, India (yes yes yes!), Nepal, Thailand, El Salvador, Honduras, Cambodia, Guatemala and Belize!
I can’t wait!
I’m excited to share this process with you all as I prepare for this trip! If you feel led to support me financially there is a button at the top of this post to do just that. Subscribe if you would like to know when I update this blog! Pray for me, this trip, and my teammates as we prepare, God is going to do great things next year!
