The decision to commit a year of my life to Mission Year ranks as one of the hardest decisions of my life! I knew that if I decided to do Mission Year I would be moving away from my family, friends, and church community to live simply in a city that I had never been before with people I had never met before. I spent nearly every day for a month in prayer and in conversation with friends, advisors, and mentors to try and work through my decision.
My final decision to commit the next year of my life to Mission Year came about when I realized that the benefits of Mission Year would outlive my uncertainties and fears. Mission Year would allow me to bring to life all that I've learned in the classroom about social injustices in poor communities. Not only that, but through serving I will have the opportunity to redefine for myself what living like Christ truly means by living amongst the poor, building relationships and loving my neighbor as myself.
I was reminded of the covenant that God made to Abraham when he followed God's call to leave his country, his land, and his father's house to a land that He would show him. God's promise to Abraham was that He would make him into a great nation, bless him, make his name great, allow him to be a blessing, bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. Abraham obeyed God's call and thousands of years later his story lives on from Sunday School lessons to pulpit sermons.
Often times God calls us to do crazy, unpopular, questionable things but the beauty in it is that we are not alone. He continues to walk alongside us and when there are footprints in the sand He is carrying us along the way. I have found comfort and reassurance in this.
"For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11
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