Guess what time it is?? It’s time for another blog post! One week ago, I posted a blog post that explains how my first race impacted my own life through the freedom that God walked me through. If you have not read it yet, I want to encourage you to go read it before continuing to read this post. My goal is to post weekly until each of you can understand my heart for the World Race and why the Lord has called me to squad lead. Today, I want to talk more about what the Lord has done after I returned home 2 years ago through my time at college.
When I was on the World Race and my squad had just arrived in Romania, I was of course Jet lagged. There was a night that I could not sleep and like any “normal” person, I decided that the best use of my time would be to apply for college. What makes this even more strange is that I had already decided not to go to college. In fact, even if I were to go, the school that I applied to would have been my very last choice. This was simply because it did not offer the major that I wanted. However, looking back, I believe that the spirit led me to apply to this school because God had so much in store.
After being accepted and a lot of prayer, God made it clear that attending Olivet Nazarene University was the next season he would put me in. I remember freaking out because I did not know how someone could experience what I had for 9 months, just to return home and go back to school. The Lord revealed something to me though, he revealed that I was not to be going for the purpose of Education. Sounds weird right? Who goes to a university without the purpose of getting a degree? However, if that is what the Lord wants, then there is trust and obedience that needs to happen. I was not to go for education but for the purpose of seeing how I could leave one mission field for another. One that felt harder because this time it was in the normal and everyday life.
The summer after I returned home from the World Race, I remember God speaking the word “leader” into me. That word filled me with so many questions because in my mind, Gracie Miller was not a leader, but she has always and will forever be a follower. As I said in my previous blog, I had once again put God in a box. I had never allowed God to speak into my life and asked him how he viewed me or what I was capable of. I realized that God was about to take me on an adventure of change and growth as he walked me through freedom (explained in my previous blog) and showed me how he sees me.
I spent the entire first semester of college in complete confusion. Confusion of how I could possibly be sitting in a classroom, practically doing nothing. Especially after I had just seen the things I did with there still being so much work to be done in God’s kingdom. I was confused over community and how I was supposed to live life without the people I had said goodbye to and how I could find a community like that again. I was most confused on why God would call me to ONU if I was not being used like he said I would be.
A big lesson that I learned is that sometimes things take time, even if God made his calling clear. Patience was a hard lesson to learn in this area and season of my life. However, the next semester made it clear that God had a purpose for me there and it was revealed why he had spoken the word “leader” over me. God filled my life with an abundance of the most incredible community, mentors that pushed me and provided wisdom, and opportunity to step into areas that I would have never seen myself capable of before. It was this semester and that opportunity that opened the door to my two leadership roles this past year. It was clear that God had brought me to ONU for these reasons. Even if it did not look similar to the ways I was serving on the Race, I know that I was still honoring God in the way that I served him through my time at Olivet.
In so many different ways, the Lord used this season to prepare me for squad leading. I was given the most beautiful example of community, one that I will always use as a reminder. I was prepared through the wisdom and encouragement that I was given. My faith deepened even more than I thought it could. My fire and passion for missions was renewed and I was given a new passion for taking believers even deeper into their faith. The Lord worked in so many ways through this season, that place, and those people. There are so many things that could be said, but for now, I will leave it here. Seeing how amazing this journey was, fills me with so much hope and expectancy for what is to come.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my very long blog post. Please continue to pray that I will receive fundraising support and that the Lord will continue to prepare me to leave in August.
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