I started writing this blog back in August 2016, but haven’t posted it until now because I was waiting for confirmation from the Lord.
From the moment I announced my acceptance to the World Race I had people asking me “What’s next when you’re finished with this?”
I wanted to give a tangible, well thought out answer, so my first response was “I’m going back to live in Red Deer and I’m going to apply for Administration jobs with our local college or hospital.”
I honestly thought that’s what I would be doing, but God has a funny way of changing our 5 year plans.
Very shortly after I started giving people that answer I would get this niggly feeling in the pit of my stomach that I can only describe as the Holy Spirit.
My own answer didn’t sit well with me. I could feel God telling me “No, this isn’t where I want you. I have bigger plans for you.”
A bit befuddled, I thought maybe God wanted me to be a missionary overseas even though I’d never had a desire to go long term, but you never know.
So, I started my Race and placed my future in Gods hands. With each passing month I waited to see if God would change my heart and ask me to come back to one of these countries permanently. I had already decided I was willing to give Him my yes if that’s what He asked of me, but it never happened.
Then the end of January arrived and our squad was gathered in Cambodia for a few days with 3 other squads for a conference called The Awakening – a conference specifically for World Racers.
“Some of you don’t know what you’re doing after your Race is finished.” It was the second night of the conference and those are the first words I remember hearing.
“Prepare your heart.” Those are the second words I heard immediately after the first. It was a whisper from God straight to my heart. “Ok Papa… I don’t know what’s coming but I trust you.”
On the last day of the conference there were 2 optional breakout sessions to attend. One was for G42 – a missional leadership school in Spain and the other was for CGA (Center for Global Action) in Gainesville, Georgia and is run through Adventures in Missions.
I attended the G42 session first and loved what I heard. Maybe God was changing my heart about going overseas after all….
Then I arrived at the CGA session and those words came back to me again: “Prepare your heart.”
I knew at that moment that this was what God had been preparing me for since before the start of the Race.
That little niggly feeling I told you about in the beginning coming from the Holy Spirit? Well the part I left out is I may not have felt called to go overseas, but I was feeling called internationally to the USA to work with a missions organization in some capacity and God kept laying Georgia on my heart over and over again for the past year and a half. I just couldn’t quite pinpoint the details yet.
Until the CGA session.
My heart started to pick up here with each word I heard. “Why are you nervous? I’m preparing a path for you here and opening doors.” This was the Lord again. He’s a great conversationalist by the way and He’s usually very clear when He wants you to hear something.
Confirmation was coming in floods with the more people I talked to about this.
The night before we had a time of prayer and prophesy over each other and me being the doubting Thomas I am, I approached our speaker that night after not getting verbal confirmation during prayer about my future.
I shared my thoughts with him on where I felt God was calling me and he said “Well, there you go! You already have your confirmation and know where your going! Do you trust Him completely with your future?” I responded with “Well, yes of course.” “Then you’ve gotta stop doubting and trust Him completely. He’s got you.” He said.
I received confirmation several more times from other friends and mentors that this was the right direction and excitement over where God is taking me.
So it is with great excitement that I am announcing my post-race plans to move to Georgia and attend CGA This coming January 2019!
