Welcome to my blog! If you have made it this far, you understand that I have decided to commit the year of 2019 to missions. Through Adventures in Missions and The World Race, I will be spending 11 months in 11 different countries spreading the gospel, the love of Christ, and gaining new experience in furthering the Kingdom of God. However, many people have asked, “what made you decide this?”. Even more so, I have been asking myself everyday, “How in the world did I end up here?”
Well, funny you should ask. A little about me: I have had my life planned out since I was like…4. With a few changes along the way (sorry mom, I no longer plan on being a tuba player), by middle school I was sure I would graduate high school with a perfect GPA, get a full ride to college, go to graduate school, get some big name degree in some awesome place, work an awesome job, with an awesome family and overall, just be awesome. That sounds ridiculous now, but I was naive, give me a break!
Anyway, by 17 I graduated with a 4.3, and was planning college. Though it felt like my life was getting ready to follow my perfect plan, God was already prepared to intervene. At first I was all “hey God, why are you messing everything up?”, but since, I have seen every twist and turn in my life as a blessing. Looking back, I can see why everything veered from my original plan to land me perfectly where God needed me. Instead of going to Notre Dame–the dream–I landed in a random, blink-and-you-miss-it town attending the University of the Cumberlands. I felt God calling me into worship ministry, and that is where I needed to be to accomplish that. I had no idea how, but I trusted that He knew better than I did. I should have known from that moment that following God was going to look very different than my original plan.
As the years went on, I loved school, met an awesome community, got plugged into an amazing church and really felt as though I was making my mark. This was it: the place I was going to do big things. Yet again, God chuckled and sent me on a mission trip to Africa. While in Uganda and Kenya, I found a heart for missions. Coming back, I was already so ready to go again. The next year, one of my best friends Brodie Craig spent the entire year in Argentina, and even though I didn’t mention it, I was a little envious. I desired so strongly to just…go. I had since missed the not only adventure of it all, but the closeness to God–watching Him move, relying on Him daily, and seeing what true faith looked like. However, I had grown comfortable. I had a great spot where I was and really didn’t feel called to move.
“But then”
Some of the scariest and yet most exciting words, am I right? And all at once, it was like God was giving me an opportunity to live out this desire for missions or, “to just go places and see things”, as I so gracefully once stated. At the start of what would be my senior year, in January 2018, I began planning again. I needed to decide on a graduate school, a Masters vs a PhD, taking the GRE, picking whether I was staying, going home, moving somewhere completely different–all very overwhelming. I knew I needed to include God in my decision making process. He wanted to show me my next step if I was willing to let go of control. I was feeling so overwhelmed because I was trying to do this all by myself with no guidance. I even felt like I was running out of time. But then, The World Race popped up on my radar, not so randomly I’d like to think. I currently have a friend, Kelly Loughran, on the Gap Year, and she was in great communication with me through my process of thinking it over. After discussion with many trusted people, prayer, time in the word, and more, I felt maybe this would be a good choice. However, I had other things that might conflict with training camp, worries over funding, and I was doubtful that maybe this was just an adventure I wanted, not what God had called me to.
My relationship with God is kind of humorous. I believe He made me and thoroughly knows me, so I am pretty genuine and open with Him. So, I basically asked God, “hey so you know how indecisive I am when it comes to big things? would you just go ahead and make it clear which path I should be taking because I am oblivious..thanks love you!”. This might seem a little insensitive, but as a stressed college girl who was finishing multiple finals, lengthy papers, and trying to remember just to eat/sleep, it was a miracle to even prayed over this decision. The thing about God: He answers our prayers. I walked into church one morning, alone and with no distractions. I wasn’t leading worship and I was expectant that I would hear from God. Wouldn’t you know it, the sermon was all about Jesus calling Peter to step out of the boat. It was about leaving a comfort zone, trusting God, and going out in faith. God said, “hey Nikki, go.” We even ended with ‘Oceans’ which our church does not often sing anymore. If that wasn’t a slap in the face approval, I don’t know what would be.
After praying and crying a little more, I stayed up all night and filled out the application. Long story short, the process was trying and I really had to dig in, but I was accepted and now I am here. I am feeling a ton of emotions about this journey and have much to do up until training camp and launch, but more than ever, I am excitedly trusting God with my path. His plans, not mine.
Thank you for listening to me ramble in this intro blog. I am not very good at telling quick stories, but I assure you not every post will be this long. I eagerly ask you to pray for me and my team as we are preparing for this huge next step! Feel free to subscribe to my blog to keep up with me in this process. If you are willing, there is a donate button at the top of my blog where you can give towards the cost of my trip–even setting up monthly donations! It is a lot on the surface, but every little piece adds up–like a puzzle! I hope that maybe you can take a piece from my story and apply it to yours! Thank you for your support and God bless!
“For I know the plans I have for you..” -Jeremiah 29:11
