I am the queen of dreaming. Every “life plan” I pick on a whim, those closest to me took with a grain of salt, because honestly, it would probably change the next day, week, or month. I couldn’t blame them either, especially my parents, who have endured the stress of watching me change my major four times, probably just praying that I graduated before I was 30 with a degree in something other than professional indecisiveness. It is safe to say that knocking on doors to see if Jesus opened them was not something I was scared to do. The call to the World Race happened in two distinct parts, over two years and point to only Jesus and his timing. The clarity of this call allowed no room for me to be indecisive. The first part was the call to missions, the nations and the World Race specifically. The second part was then the timing of when all of this would happen.
The call to missions: Looking back over my life, I can’t remember a time I didn’t love to go new places and meet new people. God has allowed me to go some pretty incredible places in my short 21 years, but the desire to see and know more has only grown. During my first trip to Kenya, I had several people tell me I needed to consider missions for the rest of my life or tell me that they could tell I was truly alive there. So naturally, I decided I was called to Kenya and went back the next summer searching for confirmation in that calling. Instead, the World Race, which had been a dream that I had been considering the year before, became so undeniable and it weighed on my heart more each day. I encountered people everywhere I went who talked about the World Race and encouraged me to go. It was truly unavoidable that this was where God was trying to send me.
Now, the timing of all of this is where God truly showed His might and left no room for doubt. I was supposed to graduate from Clemson University in May of 2016, but once again, I had stopped loving my major and felt that God was telling me to go on the race sooner. I told God I didn’t understand how that would be possible, but if He showed me how to make it happen, I’d go wherever He wanted to send me, whenever He wanted to send me. So, after Thanksgiving, every door flew open to graduate early, a whole year, in fact. Once again, I changed my major for the fourth and final time. I was familiar with this process, and hunting down the necessary signatures usually took days, but this time it took an hour to officially change my major and bump my graduation date up a full year. There was no doubt that I was meant to go in January of 2016.
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24
God has used so many people to make this journey possible thus far, and each step from here on out requires even more support from God and His people. This will not be possible without a prayer army and people who prayerfully give what they can. My prayer is that you’ll join me on this journey of faith and growth. Every step of this journey points straight to Jesus, and I pray that He’ll use me beyond my wildest dreams on this adventure and that He’ll use each of you in this story that is just beginning.
