“So what’s next?” That seems to be everybody’s favorite question for racers returning from the field.
So I decided to write a blog and ask for prayer, because that’s what racers do.
Since being in Cambodia last November, God has been opening my eyes to how He gives us passions and a vision for our life. For the past 10 months, He has been making that vision clearer.
Let me back up a little bit. I have known for a long time that I was called to foreign missions. I remember first feeling the push to “Go” when I was only 7 or 8 years old and just beginning to learn the truths about God. I have also been passionate about the sciences, with a deep love for anything pertaining to the human body and medicine, since I was in kindergarten. However, I didn’t realize until late high school that I could combine my two passions with medical missions. What would that look like? I still hadn’t figured that part out yet.
Fast forward back to Cambodia, I have my BS in Biomedical Science for Pre-Med, still unsure what I’m doing with it, but knowing I want to use it for the Kingdom. My team leader at the time, Will, is sharing the great vision God has given him, and that’s when God begins to form a picture in my head. That picture today includes clinics being set up in underdeveloping parts of the world. These clinics would be places of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing and restoration for broken and hurting people through medicine, counseling, and discipleship. I see these clinics being places that are set up using the resources already in the area, and teaching locals how to administer care well, so they will be as self-sustaining as possible.
So it’s a great vision, but how do I get there? I have a few ideas thus far. I plan on taking EMT/Paramedic classes to obtain an adequate level of medical knowledge. I also plan on going back to school to obtain my Masters of International Public Health. I will also need to learn more about how to do long term international missions well, and am considering taking a semester with AIM’s Center for Global Action. On top of this, I have learned that there is an AIM partner in Guatemala doing something very similar to my vision, and I believe it would be beneficial for me to do an apprenticeship with them. And just today my grandma tells me she knows people doing medical missions work in Durban, South Africa, which is where I spent my last month of the Race and fell in love with the people. And finally, I will need to find a team of people to do this with.
Posting this online for the world to see is somewhat terrifying for someone like me, whose biggest fear in life is failure. I seem to have all these steps, but I’m not sure which ones to take first, or which ones are more important. You see, there is one major factor holding me back from all of this: Money. I have so much debt from my 4 years in a University, I have car loans, EMT class loans, rent, food, gas, bills… the list goes on.
Debts are chains that God never meant for us to live in, and it’s only because of our society that we believe it is normal. On one hand, I fully believe that God is powerful enough that I could wake up tomorrow with the money miraculously in my account to pay off all my debt. And on the other hand, I fully believe that God has called us to be responsible with our finances, and work hard to pay off our debt before jumping in to the next thing.
So here’s the prayer that I’m committing to the next season of my life, and I would love to know that I have people all over the place praying this with me: “God, You are Jehovah Jireh. You are the Lord who provides. And when you call your people into something, I know that you take care of them. So God, You have given me these passions and I desperately desire to seek after them. Lord, through supernatural or natural means, may I be able to be debt free, so that nothing is holding me back from diving in to all You have for me. I thank you for your provision for my life. I trust in Your timing of all things. It is so hard for me to be in this season of waiting. Show me what you want me to learn from it. In Your name, Amen.”
