Hey guys!
Here I am, writing a blog post, after what seems like 50 years since I told you I would write a blog post. My apologies, I don’t really have a good excuse to be quite honest, I’m just terrible at keeping a blog. I’ll get better, hopefully!
Anyway, I figured I’d start off this little blog thing with a post about why I’m ditching my original, safe, and “normal” plan of going to college in favor of a risky, challenging, and not-entirely-guaranteed plan. The description there makes going on a mission trip seem like a bad idea, but on the contrary! God wants us to do what we can to go out of our comfort zone and try new things that are all for His glory. For some, that is going to college and putting themselves out there that way. For me, though, it turned out to be a little different. I had always intended to get the best grades that I could so that I could earn scholarships and favor with all the colleges I wanted to, then my only problem would be choosing which college I wanted to go to! As I got closer and closer to the time when I would actually have to choose a plan of action, I realized that nothing about going to college after high school really excited me or gave me much motivation anymore. It just felt like sort of a thing I had to do. Things changed drastically as I was scrolling Facebook one day. To me, it felt like such an odd way for God to present my future to me, but hey, I couldn’t really argue with it. While scrolling through Facebook, I saw an advertisement for the World Race Gap Year program. It piqued my interest, so I clicked on it. I then proceeded to spend the whole day researching this organization and this trip and what it was all about. It honestly took my breath away (that’s not an exaggeration, it made me so excited that my heart was a-pumpin’ and my breathing got a little crazy). That’s something that had never happened when I’d been applying for colleges or looking for scholarships, so I thought that maybe, just maybe, God was trying to tell me something. So, after that extremely long introduction, here’s a few reasons I’ve realized (and God has shown me) why I feel I should throw away the certainty of college this fall so that I can do something crazy and sorta out-of-character for me:
– I would really like to learn more about what it means to have a servant’s heart. This is something I feel like I struggle with on the daily, and it’s also something I believe that no one can ever learn too much about. There are a few people in my life who have the most selfless hearts I’ve ever seen, and it really reflects in the way they live their life. Going to all corners of the globe is not required to learn this, of course, but I feel that it will really do me some good in this area. And then, whatever lessons God will show me, I can bring back to live out in this country or wherever I end up. World Race doesn’t tell us ahead of time exactly what town we’ll be going to or what “task” we’re assigned with, so I’m excited for God to really show me the way in everything I do.
– Experiencing other cultures and environments has always been something I’ve wanted to do. I just never really thought about doing it before college, y’know? My mindset has always been “college and degree first, THEN do whatever you want to do”. But, like I’ve said, God has kinda flipped my mindset around in the last few months. Widening my perspective on the world and life itself while building relationships with people I most likely would never have met otherwise sounds like a really great way to spend 9 months, honestly.
– This is going to be a great way for me to step out of my comfort zone and socialize with people who I don’t know at all. For most people, travelling the world isn’t their go-to way to make friends and meet new people, but for someone like me (sort of antisocial, a bit awkward), sometimes throwing yourself into insane, new situations is just what you have to do.
All kidding aside, though, God has been telling me that the relationships with my teammates and with the locals in the countries I’m going to are going to bring me closer to Him, so I believe Him.
– I’m hopeful that God will show me something while on this trip that will really give me a passion and direction towards a new goal in life. I’ve grown up never really knowing what career or occupation I wanted to be in, and I’ve never felt extremely skilled in any one thing. Art? Love it, but not enough for it to be my job. Health/medicine? An admirable goal, but something that I’ve sort of recently lost interest in. Anyway, you get my point. I’m just a girl floating around in life right now, and I’m really praying that God will use this trip to light a fire within me that will show me what I can do with my life that will give glory to Him and help people. He always gives opportunities when we have faith, so I’m trying to go into this believing that He will walk with me and show me where I should go/what I should do every step of the way.
– After doing what seems like the same thing everyday for the past 17 years, and living with the same people, I feel ready to take a break from this and shake it up a bit. For me, in all honesty, I have mixed feelings about not seeing my family in person for 9 months straight and not sleeping in my own bed either. Life in my family hasn’t always been the easiest (though God has made Himself really evident through it), so part of me is excited to take my chance to escape from “my normal” for a little while. This, however, is not my main reason for going, because “escaping” really isn’t a good thing to have on your heart as you go to serve God’s people. Family life is definitely something heavy on my heart and mind most of the time, though, so I’m hoping that this trip will give me the chance to work through some of that while being on my own. From what I’ve heard from other Gap Year participants and alumni, there’s plenty of time for face-to-face time with the Lord during this trip.
So. Those are a few reasons I feel God has called me to go. Thanks for taking time to read this gigantic essay of a post!
Matthew 16:15 “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.'”
