December 20th, 2017 I graduated from Towson University with my Early Childhood Education degree. In middle school, I could see myself being a teacher. In high school I took classes for that career and finally went to college to get my teaching degree. Even though I focused those years on being a teacher; something else was also on my mind.
Missions! I heard about the World Race from my sister when I was in high school. I thought, I can see myself doing the World Race, going to 11 countries in 11 months, serving people and talking about God. Not long after I graduated high school, I went to Ethiopia. If you haven’t read my blog post “Ethiopia, Where it all Began” you should because after going there, I knew God gave me the heart to do missions. But even after that trip, I had my mind made up. I was going to college right after high school. I don’t like school, so I knew that if I waited to get my degree, it would be hard to stay motivated to do 4 years of school after not doing any school for a year. God didn’t stop stirring in my heart a passion for travel, culture, and for people to hear about the love of Jesus just because I chose to go to college instead of doing missions.
I want to talk about the paths we choose. I had two choices where I was being pulled to; college or missions. To stay in the familiarity of people I knew or to be in a place I didn’t know, with people I didn’t know. I have a passion for both things; one of them happened to be a passion that I’ve known about for years, to be a teacher! Just because I chose to go to college doesn’t mean that I missed my chance to do missions. God continued to show through my years of college and after college that one day, He has a plan for me to do mission work. If God’s plan was for me to do mission work right after high school and I didn’t do it, that doesn’t mean that God gave up on me. That my purpose in life is gone because of one decision I made. I continued to learn, challenge myself and grow into the person God calls me to be during my years of college and after.
Now, there was a time when I felt like Jonah from the Bible. Jonah was called by God to go to a city called Nineveh. Jonah got scared and ran from what God asked him to do. God often uses a time of transition in our lives to radically change our direction in where we are heading. After college and trying to figure out what to do next was one of those transitions where I knew I could have done the World Race. But honestly, I didn’t feel ready, I was scared and trusted in myself, instead of trusting God and letting Him have control. It took time, but I finally stopped being scared, making excuses and started trusting that God knows more than I ever will. That He has my best interest in mind. I finally said YES to this passion, where I will continue to be challenged and live my life for Jesus.
The adventure is just beginning!
