Backpacking, sleeping in a tent, fundraising, taking a year off work…all things I never thought I would be so excited to do. If you are thinking that it sounds crazy for me to go for 11 months to 11 different countries especially in a time like this, well all I have to say is me too friend, me too! While it may sound crazy, at the same time I have such a peace that this is exactly what the Lord is calling me to do during this season.
I remember learning about the Great Commission while at church camp one summer in high school. In Jesus’ famous speech, he says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19). I felt both an excitement and a nervousness inside me, feeling that I was called to live on mission for the Lord. Then, I thought, me? Surely, not me! I didn’t know what this could or would look like. As I went off to college and continued with life it seemed like I was getting further and further from living a life on mission following and obeying Christ.
As I grew in my relationship with the Lord, I was blessed with different short-term mission opportunities and experiences to serve and to grow in my love for the Lord and for all people. I have learned that Jesus’ words in Matthew 28 are a call to all followers of Christ wherever they are. And over the last three years as I’ve taught first grade in rural North Carolina, I have strived to live obedient to the Lord by growing in Him and learning how to listen to Him. I’ve begun to learn what living a life on mission for Christ is wherever I am.
Over the past year I have had the opportunity to begin pursuing a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry at Liberty University. I will be graduating with that degree in December. As I have been doing my studies and learning more about what it looks like being a disciple, making disciples, and obeying the Great Commission, I have felt the urge inside me again to surrender my whole life to Christ to go wherever he leads me. As I began praying into what my next steps are, the Lord kept bringing me back to missions and the World Race. It is time for me to apply what I have learned and say yes to God by going into the nations!
A few years back, I prayerfully crafted a purpose statement for my life that says, “My life purpose is to fearlessly live a lifestyle of worship and ministry in a way that points others to knowing and worshipping Christ by going and serving wherever Christ leads me.” The Lord has taught me that I can live on purpose for Him right where I am at. And as I say yes in obedience to God by stepping out in faith to go into the world, I go with the same purpose of fearlessly living a lifestyle of worship with the goal of pointing others back to Christ.
