Good question, friend. Sit back, grab a snack, and get comfortable because you are about to get a glimpse of who this crazy person is.
Flashback. The date? October 3rd, 1992. The world was a dark, dismal, and much less socially awkward place. . . and then Sarah Arant was born.
I proudly hail from the great state of North Carolina. Though my family resides just outside of Charlotte, I'm living in my hometown while in school. Currently, I'm in my junior year at UNC Greensboro working toward a degree in Communication Studies with a minor in English. I'll be taking a year off for the Race, and to say I'm excited for the break would be an understatement. Outside of the academics, I serve on leadership for Cru, emceeing the weekly meetings and planning social events.
Growing up, my life was pretty simple. I'm the oldest of 5 (Three biological, one adopted, and one basically adopted) from a home school family, but contrary to popular belief I didn't spend my childhood churning butter or clad in a denim jumper. I rocked a pixie cut for most of my high school years and applied more eyeliner than a punk rock front man. As a lot of stories start, I was raised in church and knew all the stories, but I never understood what it meant to actually have a relationship with Christ until I was 17.
Though I'm an oldest child, somehow I acquired the attention needs of a youngest. I refuse to watch family videos of myself after age 3, because I can't handle the constant "MOM! LOOK AT ME!" screams. This need for attention was merely the beginning of my attempt to fill the void my life possessed from a lack of Jesus.
My teenage years were marked with bad haircuts, worse make up choices, and a longing desire to be wanted. I simply wanted someone to acknowledge me, to love me where I was, and I searched for it in any place I could find it. A rough few years battling depression, crippling self esteem issues, and going through an incredibly disrespectful, unhealthy dating relationship left me battle marked and scarred, guarded and defensive, and so far from God I couldn't see any way of going back.
March 3, 2010: Two months before I graduated high school, I had been convinced/coerced by a friend's mom to visit the youth group at their church. After attending a few Wednesday night services, I'd come to like the atmosphere and the community I found there. Little did I know this was the night my Father would call out my name more loudly than ever. I heard Him that night, calling me home, wanting me.
Through many tears, I realized I needed Him more than anything else, and I took a huge leap.
I was ready to quit trying my way and follow His.
Enter Adventures In Missions. The World Race won't exactly be my first time at the AIM-rodeo.
June 2010, I spent a month in Romania with an Ambassador team which completely changed my life. This misfit little team of 9 became my family, and it was during this month that I started an insane healing process from my past and started understanding the God is real.
July 2011, I went with a Passport (then Real Life) team to Thailand for 2 months, working with SHE Ministries in Phuket. Here, God began to break my heart for His children in the nations and began to dive into deeper healing with me. While these were some of the hardest months of my life, they were definitely some of the most beautiful.
And finally, this past July, I led a team of 14 high school girls on an Ambassador trip to Uganda for three weeks. Taking on the leader role after being a participant was incredibly stretching, but so rewarding. It was during these three weeks that God placed a new challenge on my heart:
"Give it all back, give it all and go. Everything you once held dear, count it as loss. Trust me,"
A month later, I was accepted to the World Race.
Each and every day, I see a new layer of grace from my Papa. He has set this captive free and turned my mourning into dancing. No longer am I a slave to my past, but I am a new creation, fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. But it's a process, and that is why grace is so beautiful.
"In my sin, You kept loving,
there is no end to Your forgiveness and mercy
Every morning, You keep coming,
the waves of Your affection keep washing over me"
Every single day I reach the point where I can't move any farther or mess up so badly and start to sink, but His grace is the ocean and I could never escape it no matter how hard I try or mess up.
"All those angels, they are swimming,
in this ocean, and they still can find no shore
Day and Night, Night and Day,
they keep seeing new sides of Your face"
The ride so far has been a crazy adventure, so I cannot wait to see what the Race has in store!
He is far too good to me, and I am oh so undeserving.
