The World Race Gap Year

I'm excited to say I think I am starting to see the future God has called me to. The past couple of months, and really a large portion of my life, I have felt the call to serve others and to be Christ to others. I've always had a deep love for people and a desire to be able to meet their every need. I've always known I wanted to do mission work some time in my life but I wasn't really sure when I would. I had always thought that I would live the typical life, go to college, meet my husband, get a job and have kids and somewhere I would fit in time for mission work. I never would have thought that God may be calling me to take a year in between to do his work instead of going to college straight after graduation. The idea seemed crazy to me at first, and I figured it would probably sound even crazier to my parents who have always taught me how important my education was. So when I brought up the idea, it was safe to say I was completely shocked by their response: that sounds like a great idea. I think that would be a really amazing opportunity for you Reya. The call seemed to be coming so loudly ever since the first idea popped into my head and I was thrilled but fear crept in occasionally. My mind was overwhelmed with thoughts of leaving home for a year and traveling the world to do the mission work I'd always wanted to do.

So I began the search. I would be on the computer for hours on end trying to find a gap year program that could satisfy the desires that had been placed upon my heart a long time before. The search continued and it seemed like I was never going to be able to find a program that I was either eligible for, or one that I actually wanted to go on. I was starting to lose hope and just figured that maybe I would just go to college like everybody else and leave the silly thought behind. I started college applications and all the stress of it seemed to be taking over my life and oddly enough the only thing that could make me stop worrying was thinking of mission work and helping people. God was placing these thoughts on my heart because he was calling ME. He was continually trying to make me realize that I'm not made for an ordinary life but I refused to listen. Somehow, God always brought me back to that thought and I knew I couldn't just continue to ignore it and try and make my own path for myself.

So i began the search again, but this time with a new mindset. I decided I would let God show me where he wanted me to be, not where I wanted myself to be. My sweet friend Delaney and I decided one day in the summer that we would make a day out of it and go to morning mass together then head to barnes & Nobles to research different gap year programs. I knew it the minute I watched the video and read the description that I had found where my heart belongs. The World Race Gap Year. A nine month mission trip spending three months in Central America, three months in Southeast Asia, and three months in Africa. Days would be spent visiting orphanages, doing construction work, teaching and tutoring children, door-to-door evangelization and many other things. Every day bringing a new surprise and way to learn to love all of God's children.

From that moment on, I knew I had to go. I just felt the call so strongly that this was the program God wants for me and the people I will touch are the ones that God wants me to help. Everything seemed to be falling together. An amazing program, the most supportive parents I could have ever asked for, and the opportunity of a lifetime. Since that day, there hasn't been a day that goes by where I don't think of the opportunity God has placed in my life. I pray every day that I can have the courage and the faith to be bold and to live a radical life for the sake of spreading the kingdom of the God I love so deeply. Every time I picture a child in need, I know I must go. I believe God has called me by name to see the pain of the world in a unique way and want to do something about it with the gifts he has given me. Nothing brings me a greater joy than thinking about the possible life God has planned for me after this year. I'm so thankful that I serve a God who is so much greater than all the hurt in the world and wants to use me, an inexperienced, adopted child of his and use me to accomplish great things on this earth. Every time I tell someone my future plans to take a gap year and then go to college I get a different response. Mostly good, hopeful responses that think it's a good idea but I also get the occasional bad responses that tell me I shouldn't do it and that it's crazy. And it is crazy, it's crazy to leave home for 9 months to places you've never seen before and help people you've never met but the though has never scared me, it's only excited me. Every time I let the the reasons of why I shouldn't go creep into my mind, they are completely shut down by the multitude of reasons why I should go. The good far outweighs the bad in this situation. I know this is what I am called to do and this is the live that God wants me to live. I pray that I can fulfill the task and just love people big. After all, Bob Goff said,

Love's plan is pretty simple: Everybody, always.

My job is simple. Follow the path God lays before me. Love and show compassion to every one of God's children. Use this life God has given me to do something great. Make a difference in people's lives.