Carry On.

Originally, I didn’t know how to start this post. It was hard for me to sit down and write about a nine month overseas mission trip in the face of a pandemic that has many countries closing their borders. I just felt that I didn’t have the words. After all, what was I supposed to say?

However, I have started to realize recently that it is okay to not know what to say. It is okay that I don’t have the words because what I do have is faith. Faith that God is good and that He is in control and that He already knows everything that is going to happen. I don’t have to have it all figured out because He already does. 

The past few weeks as I have worked on learning to trust and let go of my worries, I have found great comfort in two little words that I continue to hear over and over… 

Carry on. 

The truth is that I don’t know how this pandemic might impact my gap year. The only one who truly knows is God, and regardless of what happens I know that He works everything together for good. Even if I don’t know what that looks like for me, I am going to trust Him even in the midst of so much uncertainty. 

So, with all of that being said, hello and welcome and I am so excited to tell you all about my World Race Gap Year! 

It is so crazy for me to reflect on the past year and see how God was preparing me for this even before I had the idea in mind. 2019 was a pretty hard year for me, but God has been so faithful to bring beauty up out of the ashes and bring me, well, to this! 

I have always had a heart for other people. In fact, when I was ten, I told my parents that when I graduated high school I was going to move to Africa and be a missionary and they were never going to see me again. While that may have been a tad bit unrealistic, I have known from a very young age that I wanted to pursue full time missions when I was older. 

So, as you can probably imagine, when I stumbled upon the World Race and realized that I could take a year off from school to go overseas and serve God’s people in four different countries for nine months, I threw all of my college plans out the window and applied. It’s the split second decisions that keep life interesting, you know? 

This September, after training camp, I will (God willing) be departing for Costa Rica, Guatemala, Thailand, and Swaziland (eSwatini). I won’t be returning until sometime in May. I am so thankful for this opportunity and you guys, I am so excited!! 

For those of you who don’t know, I recently started writing poetry as a coping mechanism for my anxiety. One of the first poems I wrote was about God using all of my struggles for good. Here is part of it: 

She picked up all the pieces, 

she felt the fire burn within. 

This battle was not hers

but she knew that she would win. 

Today, I am thankful for a God who fights our battles and works everything together for good even in our suffering. A God who loves us and sees us and provides for us even when life seems uncertain. He is so, so good.