“You’re doing what?”

I’m going on the World Race.

When I tell people that, I usually get a couple different responses:

1. “Are you going to be on TV??” (No, that’s the Amazing Race. This is a mission trip)

2. “Wow that’s awesome! I’m so excited for you!”

3. “Well Madison, if anyone could do it, it’d be you.” (usually accompanied by a bewildered look and a shaking head)

I know. This isn’t normal. I’m not normal for wanting to do this. I’m leaving my home, my job, my family, my friends, pretty much everything I know to live out of a backpack for a year. 

I know what you’re thinking: “Why? Why do you want to leave everything behind and put yourself through this?” Easy. Because God called me to do this. He gave me a heart for His people and a desire to experience Him and His world in ways I never would by staying at home. (Seriously, sometimes I feel like Moana staring out at the ocean and dreaming of what else is out there.)

In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes “For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” As the body of Christ, we have each been given individual gifts and desires in order to best serve the kingdom. No gifting or calling is better or worse than the other, because all are needed to love and serve others. 

It took me a long time to realize that my life wasn’t supposed to look like everyone else’s. Growing up, I thought that what my best friends were doing was what I was supposed to do too. Go to college, teach school, get married, have kids. But when I started following my friends down that path, I quickly realized it wasn’t for me. God’s plan isn’t one size fits all. 

Now, several years later, I’m finding my own path that he’s laid out for me. I don’t fully know what lies ahead, but I know he’s planned it just for me and I’m excited. Psalm 37 says “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This doesn’t mean that if I follow him I’ll get to pick what happens, but the more that I spend time with my Father and fall more in love with him, the more my heart will become like His and I will love what he loves and desire what He desires. 

I have no idea what is going to happen during this next year or any time period after that, but I trust the God who is laying down a path for me. I have faith that His road will rise up to meet my feet when I don’t know where I’m going. I believe that he will provide anything I need because if he can take care of the birds in the sky, how much more will he take care of his daughter?