I had my life all planned out.
Then this summer happened. You see, I’m a biology major at Youngstown State University(Go ‘Guins!), grew up in the church, and was so close to applying to Physical Therapy school I could taste the application fees. Because that was MY plan, become a Physical Therapist, get a good job, start a family and it wasn’t until God put me in a position directing a summer camp with a staff of all women that things shifted from safe to faithful. He stretched me past the breaking point, and past the point of no return. He showed me that my future was full of MY plans and none of his. I was scared, and didn’t want to leave the boat of my perceived security. I prayed and asked God, “What are Your plans for me? What are You doing that I can join in?” He answered. It wasn’t how I expected. My dad is a pastor, and there were walls of pain that were the baggage of being in a ministry family. As the walls started to crumble, He taught me that
Faith looks like Obedience, that
Love involves Sacrifice and
Surrender is really the start of Living in a whole new way.
People have asked me about going into ministry for a long time. I always hid behind the same thing.”I’m not going unless I’m called.” The truth was, I wasn’t asking, wasn’t searching, wasn’t seeking God’s will but instead relying on my own plans. As I started to ask, and surrender my future to Him He showed me the passion He’d given me for the ministry. He showed me that the faithful way, the very best way,was with Him–wherever that might be . During the summer we went to an incredible church service during which the Spirit placed the World Race on my heart. Truth was, I knew just enough about the Race to be scared out of my mind. I skipped lunch and did the only thing that made sense, I went for a run. I ran and I ran and ran some more. I wasn’t in shape, and it was mid-July heat in South Carolina. I had this crazy notion that if I could trust the Lord for this run, then maybe, just maybe I could trust Him to be who He promises He is. It wasn’t pretty but 10 miles later the fear wasn’t the same… it was still a ridiculous notion. Once I got home from the summer, life and school piled up and the World Race got buried. It wasn’t until I started to prayerfully seeking the Lord’s leading in ministry that World Race returned to mind. I put it off, until I went ahead and checked out website. Three more truths:
God wants abundantly more for us
He desires us to live deep lives
We are to take courage by faith!
Here I am.
