I'm pretty sure I've reeled you in with that title and now you're wondering, "WHAT in the World is this post going to be about?!"
So this is my post explaining why I am going on the World Race. I didn't want to take the typical approach and label the post "Why I Decided to Go on the World Race so in a way I bamboozled you 🙂
But anyways, let me start the story on why I am going on the World Race. Here we go…
July 2012
I sat in my mentor’s sun room and we talked about how I was feeling about leaving Delaware and going to Michigan for grad school. To fill you in—I was excited, sad, worried, unsure, and a little crazed. Then, she said to me, “Rachelle, you know you’re not coming back right?” And I did. I knew. I had no idea what God had for me after grad school, but every fiber in my being knew that I was not coming back. I had actually journaled how I felt that way a few days before we had met up. Where are you taking me, Lord?
October 2012
Grad school was going ok. Classes weren’t too bad. The teachers and students were nice enough, but everything was marked by loneliness. Sure I saw people all the time and talked to the people in my classes, but everything I did was pretty much by myself. I felt like I was going through an emotional/spiritual wilderness; I was unsure of what God was doing, but I knew I was in preparation. What are you preparing me for, Lord?
After a CRU weekend retreat, I took some time to process with the Lord and in the middle of my prayer (I was probably lamenting about something), God told me to go on the World Race. I mean clear as day. The same way God told me to go to grad school—I was in the middle of prayer for something completely different and God told me “Go to grad school.” So I didn’t really feel like dealing with it, so I decided to go to sleep. True story.
November 2012
I wrestled through my decision for a few days. I was torn. I have had a holy unrest for the past few years, desperately wanting to go abroad and share God’s Word. Literally, I would be so overwhelmed by grief and sorrow at the brokenness of different countries that I read about and wanted so desperately to go. I would tell God month after month, “Here am I, send me!” His Word and His Love burned so strong with me that I couldn’t shake it.
But on the other side, nothing about “going” fit into my plan. I wanted to be there for my family’s events: graduations, pageants, college move-in day, etc. I wanted to be there for my best friend’s first year of marriage. I wanted to teach. I wanted to be back in Delaware. I wanted to go back to the comfort and the familiarity of my life before grad school—living in Delaware, being with family, being at my home church, being in school.
So I cried. I questioned. I prayed. I asked, “Why? Why? Why?” “What are you doing, Lord?” I don’t remember Abraham being so apprehensive, but there’s a reason the Bible did not write about my life lol. But, after a few days, the truth won out over my emotional breakdown.
I will miss the graduations, weddings, celebrations, inside jokes, the new Hunger Games movie lol, and so much more. But I have to go. I was wired to go. There is a fire in my soul that cannot be extinguished. God prepared in advance for me to go on this World Race. He is a good God and He has a perfect and good will for me and though it will cost everyone something to follow Jesus, the reward is so sweet that it is completely worth it.
So I logged on, I filled out the application and submitted it. Afterwards, I thought about how much deeper my relationship with the Lord will be and I thought about getting to know my squad and the precious children of God around the globe and I thought about being free of American idolatry and temptations and strongholds and just living courageously out of my comfort zone and encouraging others to do the same and I went on a Jesus high.
I had so much peace and joy as I filled out my application knowing that I was doing God’s will and being a crazy person. And that, my friends, is how I ended up on the V Squad! Woot woot!
P.S. I left so much information out. For example, I stumbled on the World Race in 2010 when I was researching mission trips, so when God said to go, I knew what it was.
