Why I did World Race!

“What are you doing after high school?” This was the question I was asked about everyday of senior year. The change that I once was so excited for -dreamed about- became an anxiety trigger. I was so frustrated with myself that I didn’t know where I was going to college as I am usually the type of person to have a plan. I toured multiple colleges and was fortunate to have so many available for me to attend to. But, I left every tour and every acceptance letter without peace. I felt lost. I went from being so confident in my capabilities and my decisions, to not having an understanding of the plan for my life. That’s when the idea of taking a pause on the college track to do mission work for three months came about. Rewind to beginning on senior year, I told my parents that I want to make sure I go on a missions trip before I went to college. I felt so strongly that I needed to have this experience before heading to college. This idea brought me peace. It was the only thing that brought me some kind of peace throughout senior year. God gave me an answer to my question before I even asked, but I was so blinded by the expectations that I had set upon myself that I couldn’t see it. Looking back now, it’s so cool to see how God moved in my time of struggle that I didn’t even realize at the time. For instance, I was visiting a friend out of state and met one of their friends during the trip. She began to share her experience of taking a gap semester and doing missions work before attending college. When I began to have desires of going on a trip like this, she was a person I was able to reach out to and I was able to be inspired by her testimony. God placed everything I needed during this decision making process. I spent a little over a week in fasting and prayer, and I kept repeating the prayer, “Clearly show me what you want me to do.” One day, when I woke up and spoke that prayer, doors to other colleges were shut and I was left with doing World Race. I say all of this to answer the question as to why I am participating in World Race. It is simply because it is in God’s plan for me. Plain and simple. I could talk forever about the entire process leading up to the decision of the World Race. How God worked in my life. How it grew my faith. What I learned from it. But that is going to have to be another blog post for another time!