In just six months, I will embark on the journey of a lifetime: The World Race. I will be traveling to Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Lesotho, South Africa, Namibia, Haiti, and Dominican Republic.
While I know the eleven months I’m going to spend in eleven countries will be filled with life changing moments of serving the Lord and loving others, I also know that the journey with Christ doesn’t end there.
As I prepare for the World Race, readying my spirit for the ways that God will help it grow, I can’t help but smile thinking about how I got here to this moment.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 This is true. Not only do I know its truth because it is God’s word, but I also know its truth because I have lived it.
For a lot of people, college is a time of independent growth, learning, and discovery. For me, it ended up being all of those things with a lot of the “neither”s and “nor”s of Romans 8:38-39 mixed throughout. I had been a Christian since I was eight years old, and I went into college with my head in a good place and my heart focused on God. It only took a few days on campus for all of that to unravel. With newfound freedom and independence, I decided that it was more enjoyable to serve myself, my comfort, my happiness than it was to follow God and his purpose for my life. I placed both feet on that slippery slope and jetted down like a skier. In just one year I had replaced my faith in the Lord with doubt and replaced my pursuit of him with the pursuit of all things worldly. With every decision, every choice, I was choosing to make anything and everything more important than God and drifting farther and farther away from Him.
For two and a half years this cycle continued, and I found myself in a place where I could no longer recognize or even stand to look at who I saw in the mirror. I had run from God and struggled down a path of addiction, heartache, anger, isolation, depression, anxiety, and loss. I had reached my lowest low and could no longer handle it. I knew something had to change but I felt trapped and powerless. I hadn’t prayed in a long time, but I cried out to God and asked him to save me. Through prayer and reflection, it became very clear to me that it was time to walk away from college and focus on my relationship with God.
It was a difficult decision to make with a lot of uncertainty ahead, but I knew God had called me back to him. What followed was blessing after blessing.
“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the muck and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” Psalm 40:2-3
I came home to loving and supportive parents who were patient and helpful. I came home to a job in a Christian environment where I get to serve the Lord every day. I was blessed to go on mission trips to Puerto Rico and Belize in one summer where God broke down the walls around my heart and filled me with His love and forgiveness. He took my years of mistakes and pain and helped me learn, grow, and rediscover Him. He took all my shortcomings and regret and rebuilt my faith in Him. He took a broken, rebellious man and reminded me of my purpose: To Love God, and Love all people.
“And we know that for those who love the Lord, all thing work together for good.” Romans 8:28
This, I also know to be true as I have lived it. While we will never enjoy suffering or injustice as it is occurring, I know that God will use it for the good of those who love Him, and love others. God is using me, a broken and rebellious sinner, to glorify him through what I have learned and what He has helped me through, to go on the World Race, and share his love and hope with those who need it.
If you would like to keep up with my journey, please subscribe to this blog. If you would like to help support me in this journey, I would greatly appreciate prayer. I will be with a squad of about 40 people that will break into small groups of 5-7 people at times, and we will need lots of prayer throughout the trip. I will update this blog with specific ways that you can pray for us.
If you want to help support me financially, I will be sending out and uploading a fundraising letter that will give you more details on how to do so.
God Bless,
Isaiah Carter
